Hero of The Midnight
by Leonidae
Summary: Ryuu Masaru, promising young streetracer. With the help of his childhood friends, he challenges team after team with his two modified KP60's, that defy the logic as they go against new rivals, including Project D.! Please, read and review!
1. Prologue & Chapter 1

**Prologue**

Ryoichi was sweating. His car shuddered as it ran over the bumps, bouncing up to the air for a fraction of a second before landing, accompanied by small cloud of sparks as the bottom scraped the tarmac. He floored the throttle again, and his RX-8's rear squatted a bit as it did it's best to deliver the power to the road.

"_How in the hell can that ancient junkpile keep up with me?!" _He thought, glancing at his rearview mirror, noticing that the headlights of the car that was chasing him had actually creeped closer, despite of his flawless drift through that slow chicane. He could hear the weird sound of his chasers engine, jet engine-like whine followed by more familiar whistle and hiss of turbocharger. He looked forwards, and sighed from relief. _"Finally, uphill section starts.. now I'll show that kid who is who!"_  
With a grim smile, Ryoichi kept his foot down despite the strained howl of his naturally aspirated engine. He knew that his car could not lose to that ridiculous econobox on uphill section. He looked to his mirror once more, and his grin faded. "_Wha-?! It can't be!"_ His opponent was almost scraping his bumper with his own, keeping up with a car that had rolled from factory a quarter of a century earlier than Ryoichi's.

The short uphill section ended, and downhill took over. Ryoichi grit his teeths, squeezing his steering wheel hard as he did his best to keep ahead. _"This is ridiculous! I will not be humiliated by that piece of crap!"_  
Despite his best efforts, he lost ground at every entrance. Finally, the pressure was too much for Ryoichi, and he entered the corner bit too fast, exceeding the limits of his badly worn tires. _"Oh shit, the tires don't respond!"_ Rear started to slide wider than he had wanted it to, and he had to ease off the throttle slightly. That was the last nail to Ryoichi's race, and snap-back caused him to swerve off the road and into the ditch as his menacing opponent's car went by.

_"FUCK!"_ Ryoichi yelled from frustration, pounding the steering wheel with his fist as he watched the opponents rearlights vanished behind the corner.

Ryuu wiped off some sweat while calming down. He still wasn't used to the sudden surge of power when he used the Boost Scramble. He slowed down, glancing at the gauges. Everything was within normal limits and he sighed from relief, before turning his car around and returning to his opponents wrecked car to check if he was hurt.

**Chapter 1: The journey begins..  
**

Ryuu was tired but happy. The race had gone well, and his opponent got mere bruises in the crash. After few hours of sleep, he waked up as his phone rang. It was Akira.

"Morning, Ryuu. Sorry that I waked you up, but I needed to know if the upgrades worked as we planned." Ryuu yawned and groaned a bit before answering. "Yeah, they worked like dream. Only trouble I had was trying to keep the rear end of the car still while using the boost scramble. I guess we need to.. (yawn) .. soften the rear dampers a bit."

Ryuu could almost see his friend nodding his head eagerly. Despite being more interested of electronic gadgets, Akira knew pretty much about suspension and other stuff about cars, after all, his father had been a race driver few years back. "I agree. What about the drifts? Were they easy to control?"

Ryuu grunted as he walked to his kitchen, before replying. "As easy as they just can be in a car with such short wheelbase. But the car is more and more oriented towards grip, so it's basically useless to drift it when it can go just as fast with grip. Zero countersteer drifts are the ones that happen almost without any input from me, which is just perfect." Ryuu did put some coffee coming, yawning again. "You know, I've been saving money for a rather special engine that I could use in Wangan runs. With new front bumper and better diffuser kit under the car I'm pretty sure that I could keep up with those nutjobs out there."

There was a short silence, before Akira answered. "I see.. well, you got me interested. What kind of engine is it if I may ask?" Ryuu chuckled. "It's a secret, but I assure you that it'll be phenomenal. In drag use some tuners have pulled out over 1000bhp from it, but I think that approximately 850bhp will be more than enough for my needs. The transmission and almost whole drivetrain has to be replaced with stronger one etc.. But we'll speak about it later."

After finishing the call, Ryuu ate some breakfast, dressed up and walked into his garage. His car, Midnight Dragon was sitting in there. He touched the hood, that was still warm after the race. Ryuu could already see how much the new front spoiler would change the look. He wondered if he should put the car on diet, but he abandoned that idea soon. His car already had excellent power to weight ratio, and with the new engine he would be pretty close to F1 territory.

After few moments of lazy pondering, he opened the garage door and drove his car out. Supercharger's whirr covered other noises pretty well as he revved the engine, and as usual, neighborhoods kids came running to him, begging for a ride and asking same questions again and again.

Some other day he would had been patient and given the kids a short ride etc, but now he had an appointment at the bodyshop that had the task of creating him a new front bumper and rearwing with adjustable downforce. The kids were disappointed, but that was fixed with a show-style exit that included loads of wheelspin.

_Bit later..._

Ryuu was in the shop discussing with his friend, Arata. Arata, the designer of the bumper had shown him some sketches and glass-fiber mold that was still quite un-detailed. Ryuu had given him some more instructions about the shapes and details that would direct the airflow more efficiently.

He was really pleased with the adjustable carbonfiber part that was going to create the downforce. His car would look and sound dramatically different on the notorious Wangan runs, and he was quite sure that he'd create quite a lot of stir in those petrolheads.

After some discussion with Arata, Ryuu left and headed to mountains. He already knew that he wasn't even near of the top Touge drivers of the area, but he was advancing towards them quite swiftly. He had heard that some of them had started looking over their shoulders, but Ryuu was still quite skeptical about that rumor.

He was driving along the road that he had raced last night, seeing the black tire marks on the road. He could tell which were his and which had belonged to the crashed RX-8. "He had way too stiff and low suspension.." Ryuu said to himself, smiling a bit.

He pulled over at the crash site and stepped out of his car, walking to the spot where the RX-8 had stopped. There was chips of paint and pieces of plastic and glass. Then he walked to the spot where the RX-8 had started skidding uncontrollably. "He pushed too hard and wore out his tires.." Ryuu shook his head. Luckily Ryoichi had understood that the crash was his own fault.

Ryuu was just sitting into the Starlet when he heard screech of tires and deep rumble of exhaust. He looked over his shoulder and saw a blue R32 GT-R. "Ryuu, you old scoundrel! Returning to the scene of victory to bathe in the memories?" The driver of the R32 grinned, and Ryuu laughed.

"Hi Daichi. I see that you've heard of last night events.." Daichi nodded and grinned. "Ryoichi won't underestimate KP60's anymore, that's for sure. But, that's not the thing I'm here to talk about."

Daichi got serious. "Ryuu, have you heard of Three Katana's?" Three Katana's was a team that was competing about the lead of local areas touge drivers with few other well known teams.

"TK? Yeah.. two S2000's and NSX Type R, right?" Daichi nodded and told Ryuu that the leader of TK was going to challenge him, since he had defeated Ryoichi, the last lone wolf outside of the top five teams.

"What? They're going to challenge _me_? Damn.. I never realized that I've got that far.."

Daichi patted Ryuu's shoulder. "Well, you've been too busy building up that doghouse of yours and beating other drivers with it. You've actually built a small hype around yourself." Ryuu stared him, still shocked from the news. "Are you gonna accept the challenge?" Ryuu sighed, relaxing a bit. " Like I'd have a choice. Thanks for the heads up, Daichi. Maybe if you'd concentrate on your outdated Playstation car instead of hunting gossips, you'd be on my place." Daichi laughed. "Maybe. But I'll let you go now.. 'outdated playstation car'.. Man, I'm gonna get you for that one sooner or later." Ryuu grinned, sitting into his car and sped off, towards the exciting future.

_to be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Midnight Dragon Vs. Three Street Samurai's**

Ryuu drove to Hideaki's place as soon as he could. When he arrived, Akira and his father, Katashi, had already opened the door to their large garage, that was filled with all kind of equipment that were needed when tinkering around with cars. Ryuu drove his car in and stepped out of it, nodding to the masterminds behind his cars handling and performance.

"So, Ryuu, what kind of competition are you going to face this time?" Older Hideaki asked. Old racing driver knew what to do to make the car handle as he wished, and he had been helping Ryuu and Akira to update the Starlet's suspension into fully adjustable one.

"The best from Honda. Two S2000's and an NSX Type R." Older Hideaki corrected his glasses slightly, as did his son. Ryuu had to suffocate a chuckle.

"They indeed are the best what Honda has to offer in terms of handling and performance. Lightweight, near perfect weight distribution, RWD.." Said Katashi, and Akira continued: ".. and they also have best engines of Honda's lineup, churning out 250bhp for S2K's and nearly 300 for NSX." Ryuu nodded. He had considered Honda's powerplant for his car, but then brand loyalty knocked his wandering mind back on correct, TRD-powered track.

Older Hideaki coughed, awakening from his thoughts. "So, you'll need a fast setup then. The engine doesn't need any tweaks, your power to weight ratio should keep you ahead of them even if they've got some modifications."

Ryuu nodded as he reached inside his car, opening the hood and trunk so Hideaki's could start their work. Akira pushed the car forwards a bit, placing it on the lifter.

"I'd like it to be pretty neutral on the entry, then have some slight oversteer towards the exit. The current setup is too neutral, it tends to push wide when driven hard. The rear is bit restless near the limit, especially in fast bumps." Katashi nodded. "We have to concentrate on the rear suspension then. Akira, you start ahead, I have some things to discuss with Ryuu."

Younger Hideaki nodded, lifting the car a bit and started removing the wheels. Ryuu walked out with Katashi.

"I heard you're planning to go on Wangan run, but you don't have enough powerful engine yet." Katashi said, looking at the passing schoolgirls in their quite revealing school uniforms, grinning lopsidedly. Ryuu looked with equal interest, before snapping back to reality. " Ah, right, that's true. I could squeeze out approximately 400 horsepowers from the current engine, but the durability would be compromised and then it wouldn't suit touge anymore."

Katashi grunted, agreeing. "That is true. Your engine is a masterpiece, but it wasn't meant to do such power. But, if you're interested, I might have suitable engine available for cheaper price than you could get it."

Ryuu was shocked. "B-but Sir, are you sure of that? You don't even know what kind of engine I'm after.." Older Hideaki chuckled and patted Ryuu's shoulder. "Son, Akira mentioned the specifications you told him, and the engine what I've been keeping eye on could reach that output and even exceed it with ease."

Ryuu licked his lips. "What kind of engine is it? You have to remember that it would be fitted into that tiny engine bay back there. "

Katashi nodded. " It'll fit in there with ease, since it's very compact and lightweight unit. And I've already started building the engine during the weekends. But I think I can give you a hint: it displaces two liters, churns out 250bhp without factory fitted twin turbos, revs so high that even Honda would be envious.. and doesn't have cylinders."

Ryuu grinned. "You know, Sir, you had read my mind.. actually, you probably got the engine which I had laid my eyes on. Isn't it the RE Amemiya's 20B unit?" Katashi nodded again, lighting a cigarette."You're smart kid, Ryuu. That powerplant is ideal for this car. It's light, compact and has huge potential. I guess you'll go for forced induction?"

Ryuu nodded, although he wasn't quite sure. "I was planning to get two Variable Geometry Turbochargers for it so the lag wouldn't be so bad." Katashi smiled approvingly.

"Smart kid.." Older Hideaki said, blowing the smoke out from his mouth. "Let's keep this as secret.. and make a deal.. if you beat those Hondas tonight, I'll build, install and finetune the engine for you, and you'll pay me the price I had to pay."

Ryuu felt bit dizzy. "Are you serious? Why?"

Katashi chuckled a bit. "Well, actually, it's a part of a deal I made years ago with my boss when I stopped racing. I agreed with him that I'd seek out and help young drivers that have potential to become professional race drivers, guiding them towards the racing world. And, from my point of view, you're a rising star. I've kept an eye on you, and told my old boss about you. He's very impressed with your progress, and so am I."

Ryuu looked into the garage, where Akira had already removed the rear wheels and adjusted the suspension.

"I don't know what to say. I never even thought about that chance before. Driving has been my hobby for years, and it'll be so for years ahead." Katashi just listened silently, smashing the glowing remnants of his cigarette with his shoe, as Ryuu continued. "I'll keep the offer in mind, Sir. We'll see after the race if I'm able to fill your expectations." Katashi nodded, and they returned to the garage.

_Few hours later_

"There, that should do it.." Akira muttered, wiping off some sweat from his face, spreading some more of brake dust and dirt on it. The sun was setting already, and the time for the care crept closer swiftly. Ryuu sipped his coke, letting his mind wander as Katashi and Akira started to put the wheels back on place. Soon the starlet was standing on it wheels again, and Ryuu could see that the angles of rear geometry had been altered.

"It'll handle now as you wanted it to." Katashi said, and Ryuu had no reason to doubt the former racing drivers words.

"Allright, I'll be off then. We'll know the outcome of the race within few hours." Both Hideaki's nodded as he sat into his car, starting the engine and pulling out from the garage, then accelerated to the descending darkness, heading to the mountains.

_At the starting point_

The crowd was growing all the time, plenty of more or less modified cars were in the parking lot nearby, and loud music was filling the air with the excited chatter of the spectators.

Three Katanas were there already, standing near their menacing looking cars. S2K's were really awesome with their hard-tops and carbonfibre parts, but even they were shadowed by the magnificent presence of the NSX, that was 1:1 replica of Mobil1 JGTC-car in it's pure white livery and widebodykit. It even had the airscoop feeding the air to the engine. The crowd fell silent as they heard the distant roar of engine and squealing from the tires.

"Here he comes! The Midnight Dragon is here!" Someone yelled, and the air was suddenly so thick of excitement that it could had been cut with a knife. Soon, the crowd split apart as Ryuu drove to the parking lot, stopping his car in front of the Three Katanas. He turned off his engine, and for a moment, only thing everyone could hear was the crickets.

_**In the next chapter, the race begins between Ryuu and Three Katanas! Will Ryuu be able to fulfill Takeshi's expectations and earn the right to have the engine?**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:Surprises and privileges**

Ryuu opened the door and stepped out from his car, looking at the members of Three Katana's. He was bit surprised as he noticed that they actually were girls.. or young, lightly and tightly dressed young women to be exact.

The driver of NSX, the leader of the team spoke to him. "My name is Akane, and this is my team, Three Katanas. Those two back there are my sisters, Emi and Hotaru." Ryuu nodded, looking at the pretty racer triplet with interest, before answering. "My name is Ryuu Masaru, and I have no team. What are the rules of the race?"

Akane looked at him, then glanced at her smirking sisters, nodding. "The rules are simple. Two runs down the course. First, we chase, then, you are the chaser. If you lose both events, you get nothing. But if you win both events.. You get this, 2 million yen bank note and... our phone numbers."

Ryuu was just staring at them, and the crowd erupted into a storm of applauds and cheering. "Did you hear that? If Midnight Dragon manages to beat the Three Katana's, he gets 2 million yens and their phone numbers! Can you believe that?!" Ryuu managed to gather his concentration, or what was left of it and answered.

"I agree with these.. uh.. terms.. you've set, and I'm ready to go when you are." Akane nodded, then walked to her sisters, and they all laid mischievous looks at Ryuu's direction giggling and whispering to each others. He was pretty certain that this was a cunning trick to break his concentration, and he had to admit that he had fallen for it. "Damn.. Those sneaky little.. " His hands were sweating and shaking, and he had blushed fiercely. He clenched his hands into fists, grunting.

After a while he had managed to calm down. He was sipping his energy drink as Akane returned to him, smiling sweetly. "Are you and your car ready, Mr. Masaru?" She asked, and Ryuu nodded, tossing away the empty can. "In that case, we shall start. See you at the bottom, Mr. Masaru.."Akane chuckled and walked to her car, sitting into it and closing the door.

Ryuu drove his car to the starting line, followed by three Honda's. He tightened his seatbelts, checked his mirrors. He could already feel himself as the prey, and those three were the predators. He started to rev his engine as the countdown started, and as the count reached zero, air was filled with the howl of of race-bred engines and burnt rubber.

Back in the town, Katashi was standing outside his house with Akira. They could hear the distant howl of the engines and tires. "It has started.." Katashi tossed away his cigarette. Akira looked a bit worried. "Do you think he can pull it off, father?" Katashi glanced at his son. "Well, if he can't win, then the fault is partially yours, young man. You are responsible of his suspension setup, are you not?" Akira snapped at him.  
"That's why I'm worried, old fool! You might have been a top notch racing driver back then, but now you're just old geezer who drools after schoolgirls and -OW!" Katashi had slapped him to head. "Show a little respect to this old geezer, who still beats you in every category when it comes to automotive knowledge!" Akira pouted and rubbed his head. " Did you have to use the hand which had the ring..?" Older Hideaki just laughed and walked inside their house.

The beginning of the course was pretty steep downhill, so Ryuu had an advantage. His car's light weight made it nimble, and thanks to the compact size he was able to drive the hairpins pretty much as he wanted. The suspension setup didn't work so well in these tight corners. He had to toss the car into a slide every now and then to keep up his speed. He was pretty certain that the Katanas would try to pass him at the high speed section.

"_They're quite fast here too, and they can easily keep up with me even though I'm not going flat out yet. This will be interesting one.."_ He though as his car roared past cheering groups of crowd. "So fast! GO, Midnight Dragon, GO! You can do it!" One of his supporters yelled.

Ryuu didn't know it, but the Three Katana's could discuss with each other via radio headsets they had. They were observing his lines closely, discussing of best method to catch and pass him. "Emi, Hotaru, we have no other choice. We have to pass him in the high speed section. His car is too quick in this part of the course."

Hotaru and Emi agreed, but they haven't yet decided the attack point or formation. They kept chasing the Midnight Dragon, who was almost avoiding their headlights every now and then. "You're nimble and quick in the corners, little one.. but we'll show you the power of Three Katana's at the straightaways!"

There were few people in the last serpentine section with video cameras. They had climbed on top of the walls so they could get clear shot to the cars when they would drift through this section. Few times there had been crashes, but otherwise they had captured pretty amazing shots of sweet drifts in this section.

Now they were there to catch a glimpse of the legendary Midnight Dragon. They haven't had any footage of this newcomer yet, but the way he had worked his way through tougher and tougher opponents had made an impression in the local underground racing magazine.

Their reporters were always there where street racing occurred, and they got interviews and videos whenever they could, distributing them in the Internet. Soon they got what they wanted as they heard the screeches of the tires.

"Here he comes, Kohaku! Get ready with that cam!" The older reporter shouted. "We must get him on the film, no matter what he drives!" Kohaku, the fresh addition to the staff of WTCR-magazine, nodded eagerly and got into position. Soon they could see the headlights flashing as the cars got closer, and suddenly, there they were.

Kohaku hit the record-button, filming everything as the older reporter started to talk into microphone. "Finally we get a glimpse of mysterious racer called Midnight Dragon, who has worked his way through hard opponents! As you can see, he's now entering the serpentine section, and as he enters the light, we can finally identify his car! Sounds like it has four-cylinder engine, with forced induction. But what is that whine at lower revs? Could it be super- and turbocharged? Well, that shall be answered in the interview."

The reporter said, gasping air before continuing. "And now he starts the drift.. That is a small, nimble car.. Could it be a hachi-roku, a common choice for touge..? No, it's smaller.. it's.. what the.. that's a.. it's a KP60 Starlet?! And it's staying ahead of Three Katana's with ease, sliding through corners like a WRC car! This is amazing! The Three Katanas are far behind! This might mean that there's a new number five on this area!"

Kohaku concentrated on keeping the focus on the Starlet which slided through corners gracefully. The older reporter went on into a frenzy, spitting out words like a machine gun."..he has cleared the serpentine section, and what an acceleration! Of course, his car is very light and this is downhill, so he has an advantage and he uses it as well as he can! What a car! What a driver!"

As the Starlet vanished behind the corner, he switched to the chasers. They looked so slow and clumsy when compared to the KP60's dynamic movements. But they were bigger cars, so the difference wasn't really that bad. Soon they roared out from the serpentine section, chasing the Midnight Dragon fiercely. "..and there goes the Three Katanas, doing their best to keep up with the KP60."

The reporter stopped, and nodded to Kohaku who stopped filming. He was bit startled. "..Sir, I know the driver of that KP60." The reporter looked amazed. "Really? How?" Kohaku looked bit regretful that he had opened his mouth. "Well, he's my big brother's best friend. My father and brother helped to design the engine and suspension of that car, and they also adjusted it." The older reporter looked puzzled. "So you're saying that Katashi, also known as The Surgeon, has his hands in this?" Kohaku nodded. "He was at our garage today too, so I guess so.." The older man chuckled. "No wonder then, that this guy's car handles so well.. Well, let's go down to the base. The next run will probably solve this race."

Just like Ryuu had thought, Hondas started closing in as soon as the fast section started. He smiled grimly and finally dared to press the pedal to the metal, and Midnight Dragon leaped forwards, roaring, hissing and spitting flames from it's exhaust.

"Damn.. he's fast on straightaways too! Floor it, sisters, floor it! We can't lose to that old shopping bag!" Akane yelled into the radio, gritting her teeths as she urged her NSX to run faster. Old Toyota seemed to be getting smaller ahead of them, as they didn't dare to add speed as much as the smaller car could. "Damn it! It's up to second run now!" She yelled out of frustration.

_Half an hour later_

Ryuu was drinking thirstily. The first run had been intense, but he had won it with a nice margin. The Three Katanas weren't smiling and giggling any longer. Instead they were shooting angry glares at him, and it was his turn to smile widely and wave at them. Then he looked at his car. The hood was open since the engine temperature had gone pretty high during the race. Obviously the coolant fluid was getting old. "Well, if I win this last run, i will have no money problems for a while and you'll get as much coolant as you want." He said, patting the valve cover, almost burning his fingers.

"That guy caught us off guard, sisters. We underestimated his and his car's abilities." Emi looked at their challenger. "I don't know.. I won't mind giving my number to him, he's kinda cute, you know.." She giggled with Hotaru, but Akane wasn't amused at all. "Baka! It also means that we can't have those upgrades yet. If there will be another challenger, we might end up falling to seventh team or even further!" Emi snorted. "Maybe that's what I want! I want to meet boys and have social life instead of laying under car while trying to avoid getting oil into my face!" Hotaru nodded as well, and Akane sighed. "Oh come on, you two, would you really get this excitement from cuddling and dating with boys? I think not. No matter if we win or lose this race, I promise that we'll keep a month long break from racing so you two can 'socialize' with boys." Two younger sisters cheered at this decision, and they ran off to their cars.

Ryuu closed the hood as Akane walked to him. "Ready to chase our tails, Mr. Masaru?" Ryuu nodded and winked with a grin. "I'll do my best, miss." He actually managed to make Akane blush, and she ran quickly to her car, followed by Ryuu's laughter.

_15 minutes later_

Kohaku Hideaki had already aimed the video camera at the end of the final straight. The engine sounds were getting stronger quickly, and he couldn't tell which ones were louder, the F1-like howl of Hondas or the raw snarl and whistles of the twincharged Toyota.

"This is the final run that solves the race! As you can see, we're at the final straight before the goal, and we can hear the roar of the engines getting closer. Which one is in the lead, the chaser or the chased?" Suddenly, loud pop and screeching could be heard, ending into dual, plastic crunch that echoed from the walls of the mountain.

"Oh no, I think there was a crash! But wait.. Judging from the sounds, atleast the NSX and Toyota are still running on full throttle, so then it must be the S2K's that have been in accident! I hope that the drivers are allright."

Then, the NSX and Starlet came on the final straight side by side, accelerating like there would be no tomorrow. The NSX was more aerodynamic, but Tiny toyota had better power to weight, and slowly it slipped ahead of the NSX, winning the race by half cars length. The NSX stopped quickly, and Akane got off from her car. "Call a towing service and an ambulance, Emi and Hotaru had a crash! "

Ryuu walked to Akane, who was still talking to radio. "What happened? Are they hurt?" Akane turned to him, looking a bit relieved. "They're allright. Emi's tire failed and she crashed to Hotaru, pushing them both into wall. Luckily it was at hairpin so the speed wasn't too high." She sighed. "The repairs are going to take a while.. I think we will be out of the scene for a month." Ryuu nodded. Then Akane took the bank note, and piece of paper, writing their numbers on it. "Agreement is an agreement, and there was so many witnesses that I can not back out from this." She handed the papers to Ryuu, who gave her a hug. "You're a true racer, Akane. Keep going and you'll earn money for repairs in no time." Akane was bit shocked, but recovered soon and hugged back shyly.

Back in the town, a phone rang. Katashi answered, and he was slightly surprised as he heard familiar voice from his racing career. They discussed shortly before ending the call. Akira was persistently staring his father until Katashi gave up. "He won the race, got the money and possibly got a girl too." Akira's mouth hung open. "WHAAAA...?!" Katashi sighed and lit a cigarette. He would be busy for a week, preparing that engine for Midnight Dragon. "Soon that car will really breathe fire.."

_**In the next chapter, Midnight Dragon gets the new engine and bodykit, and of course, during the tests, new challengers appear! And how will Ryuu deal with the girls he just defeated?**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Newborn Dragon's first kills**

It had been a week since Ryuu had defeated Three Katana's. The following day he had visited the bank, taking the money from the bank note and then drove to bodyshop. Arata had been waiting him already, since he had also his sources when it came to underground racing scene. Ryuu had helped the staff to install the new front bumper and rear spoiler, that had been painted already with the same flip paint that was applied on the rest of the car. After the job was finished, he had discussed for a while with Arata, before paying for the work and driving off, heading to Hideaki's household, where the new engine and gearbox had been waiting for installation.

Katashi had prepared the engine while Ryuu had been in the bodyshop. Akira had checked the wiring and electronics just before Ryuu arrived. They decided not to rush with the project and took four days to complete the engine swap. The old engine would still be used for daily driving and mountain pass runs, since it had more than sufficient power for that purpose.  
Ryuu slipped on the bucket seat, feeling bit nervous. It was time to start up the new engine. He turned on the ignition and pressed the big, red 'START' button. Short whirr of starter was quickly drowned by deep, throaty growl of 2l Wankel engine. Ryuu smiled and blipped the throttle few times, hearing the audible swoosh as the smaller VGT spooled up instantly. Akira opened the passenger side door and sat on the seat, strapping himself and plugged his laptop on the OBD-socket.

Akira fiddled with the ECU settings for a while. "Alright, we're good to go for shakedown. Let's go." Ryuu nodded and pressed the clutch down. He was surprised how heavy it felt. He selected first gear and lifted his foot slowly, figuring out where the clutch started to grip before he applied more throttle. The car shuddered a bit before it started to roll, and from that on it was bit easier to drive.

Ryuu headed to the nearest highway, listening the cars new soundtrack with a wide smile. He also tried some sharp accelerations, and he wasn't disappointed as the car leaped forwards as if the God would had been pushing it from behind. Akira kept telling him the specs of the engine and gearbox.  
"Were now on low boost mode, resulting as 640bhp at rear wheels when boost scramble is on. On high boost this car has 895bhp, and if you'll put high octane fuel, you can add about thirty bhp to those readings." Ryuu nodded numbly. He wasn't able to even imagine such power under his right foot, and yet, he was going to call them all on duty when they'd enter the highway.

Akira kept his eye on the laptop's screen, looking at various readings from the engine. Everything was within limits so far. He wondered for a while why the boost didn't build up as it should, until he realized what was wrong: Ryuu was shifting too early. "Ryuu, this engine is ported, so the idle is pretty high, about 2000rpms or so, and it'll rev to 13 000rpms. So you need to rev it way higher than you're used to. If you drive this car with this engine as you drive with the old one, you're practically rolling on idle revs, and that's not good." Ryuu nodded. He should had realized that himself. He pressed the throttle bit more, and the cars movement got more eager as the smaller variable geometry turbo started to work properly.

Finally they reached the ramp that led to the highway. Ryuu grinned to Akira. "It's been a while since you last were on the passenger seat. If you thought it was wild ride back then, you'd better say your prayers now.." Ryuu downshifted to second gear, and the boost meter leaped up to maximum reading. "..because now this Dragon will fly!" Akira had barely time to pull breath as Ryuu floored the throttle.  
On that instant, the tires lit up, propelling the car forwards at mind-blurring speed. Third gear followed quite soon, and so did the fourth. They were way past 150mph, and still accelerating hard. There was intoxicating surge of power as the bigger VGT came into play, kicking the tiny car forwards as it would had been strapped on a jet-engine. The cabin was full of hiss of the turbos and howl of the race-bred rotary engine. Other cars were just momentary blurs as they were passed. Ryuu noticed that the last third gears were meant for top speed when using the high boost mode. They were doing 170mph on fifth gear, and revs weren't even near of the redline.

The car was surprisingly stable at that speed. The wind whistled past them as they kept going, and when Ryuu spotted a proper, miles long straight, he pressed the boost scramble button.

And the next thing could only be described as if the air resistance would had been dropped by half. Larger VGT's hiss turned into forceful swoosh and with ease, Midnight Dragon passed 220mph, still on fifth gear. Ryuu squeezed the steering wheel hard, knowing well that if the car would lose control at this speed, their pieces would be scattered along the road faster than he could sneeze. Slowly he backed off from the throttle, slowing down to more reasonable speed, before pulling over to fuel station.

"If that's how low boost feels, then the high boost will be.." Ryuu shook his head. He felt unreal, like he'd still be sleeping. He had just passed speed that belonged to supercars and racecars, the likes of Ferrari and McLaren F1. Akira was in equal state. Now he knew why his father had been smirking when they had left the garage. He knew that the new performance of this car would blow their minds away. The sixth gear was good for 250mph+, he knew that one now. His father hadn't said a thing about the gearing, or the possible top speed.  
"That mad old man.. I'm certain that he knew how fast this thing would run, since he ran with similar setup back in the 80's and 90's. " Ryuu sipped his coffee, glancing out from the window. His car had got some admirers around it. New bumper and rear-spoiler/diffuser were quite subtle, but for enthusiasts, they were a lighthouse that was speaking loudly about the performance. "Come on. Time for high boost test." Akira looked like he'd chicken out, but with a sigh, he stood up and followed Ryuu back to the Starlet. They had to make their way through some other petrolheads that were looking at his car. They couldn't believe that this old shoppingbag had such immense power.

Akira tinkered with the ECU again. Later the laptop would be replaced by more simple system that would be operated via display and few buttons for different ECU programs. But for these test runs the laptop was good enough to do the job. When he had finished, he nodded to Ryuu and they were back on Wangan again.Akira explained what kind of methods were and could be used to adjust the power of the engine. "First off, VGT's are electronically controlled. By adjusting the vanes in the turbine electronically, we can make the turbos come in slower, smoothening out all sudden power spikes. Or then, they can be opened fully, creating bit more lag and a clear kick in the power. Of course, it can be everything between these two extreme ends."

Ryuu nodded, listening the engine more than Akira's explanation. There was a small difference in the engine note too. Pressing the throttle didn't result as sharp surge of power. "Could it be adjusted so that the vanes position would be linked to the position of the throttle? That way it would be easier to control the power, at least for me." Akira nodded. "Sure. I can do that at the garage."

Ryuu tightened his grip from the wheel as he noticed two cars approaching them at very high speed. They flashed past him, and he barely had time to recognize them. "Woah! That was R33.. and fourth gen Supra!" Akira barely had time to open his mouth. " You're not going to rrrraaaaAAAAAA...!" The rest of Akira's objection was mixed into shout of horror as Ryuu floored the throttle. And after very brief hesitation, the car leaped forwards with such force that their heads were pressed firmly against the headrests, while tires chirped under the tremendous forces they had to deliver to road. Ryuu was quickly going through the gears, shifting near 13 000 rpms, laughing like a madman. "That's not a throttle pedal, it's a hyperspace switch!" He yelled as they started to gain on the two quick coupes. Akira just rolled his eyes.

Ahead of Ryuu and Akira, battle was raging between eternal enemies. Twin turbo inline sixes roared as their drivers were using every single horsepower they could squeeze out to get faster. But in this case, the GT-R driver had bit more to lose than the douchebag in Supra, because he had his girlfriend sitting next to him. The girl was pale and she held her seatbelt so tight that her knuckles were white. The driver of the GT-R, British exchange student and GT-R enthusiast called Sam stared the road ahead of them, glancing at the Supra every now and then. "Don't worry, Mako! We'll shake that douchebag off soon." He said, flashing a confident smile to the girl next to him.  
"B-but Pink's a professional wangan racer! This is madness, Sam! You don't need to impress me like this!" Mako said. "He talked rudely of you, Mako. I will not allow such even if he's your ex, alright? Just let me settle this between me and him." Sam said. His car, R33 GT-R N1'95, had more than 500bhp, and had small bits and pieces from Mine's and HKS. Their speeds were climbing past 170mph when he noticed the set of bright blue headlights closing in. " What the..?"

Pink had noticed it too. He did his best to squeeze every single bit of horsepower out of his Supra, just like Sam did in his GT-R. " I'm not gonna lose to some unknown brat on wangan! I'm driving a Supra for fuck's sake!!" He shouted in rage as the speedometer needle slipped past 190mph. He could already hear the high-pitched howl. "What the hell is that? Mazda RX-7 or RX-8?" He kept his feet buried on the floor, as the car slowed down and matched the speed with them, accompanied by loud whistle from it's BOV's.  
For a second the odd trio was cruising at 200mph. Sam and Pink were in utter shock as Ryuu decided to leave them alone with their childish sandbox fight. He floored the throttle, pressing the boost scramble, causing the light car to leap forwards as if the Supra and GT-R would be doing mere 30mph. Sam and Pink could only stare as the 26 years old econobox left them behind, backfire flickering in it's twin exhausts as Ryuu shifted to sixth gear.

_Few minutes later_

Pink had eased off the throttle from the shock, and had taken a ramp off the highway, giving up on the chase as soon as the KP60's rearlights had vanished to the horizon. "What the hell was all that about?" Sam wondered. He had heard from his friend Daichi, that certain Starlet that was known as Midnight Dragon on the touge-scene, would do some test runs on wangan soon. "So that's Midnight Dragon, Daichi..? No wonder that you talked to respectfully of it.." He mumbled as he turned to the ramp and drove Mako to her home.  
"Mako, I'm sorry about that, I really am. I hope you can forgive me." Mako smiled slightly. "Well, that was nothing new to me, Sam-kun. Pink was like that too.. but he didn't apologize afterwards. Thanks for the exciting night, Sam." She said, placing a light, innocent kiss on Sam's cheek, completely erasing his mind in the process. "Nighty night, Sam." She giggled and ran into her house, leaving the British boy wondering what he had done right. Then he picked up his phone, and called to Daichi. He wanted to know more about this fire breathing monster called Midnight Dragon.

Daichi's R32 was waiting at Ryuu's house as he returned. He parked his car in the driveway, opening the door. Daichi was already walking towards him. "So, you're finally made your first appearance on Wangan, haven't you?" Daichi asked. Ryuu grinned widely. "Yeah, we did the first test runs today, destroying fourth gen Supra and R33 in the process." Daichi lifted his eyebrows. "So it was you after all, who left Sam and Pink biting your dust. You know, they have nearly 600bhp under their hood, and their cars are way more aerodynamic than yours.. and still, Sam told me that you left them standing _at 200mph_.. so what the hell have you chuffed under your hood, a V8 or something?" Ryuu laughed. "Nothing that vulgar. Come, let's push this baby to the garage and I'll show you."

After pushing the car inside, Ryuu turned on the lights and opened the new carbonfibre hood that was painted like the rest of the car. Daichi just stared at the engine bay. "What the.. is that 20B? And Borg-Warner turbos.. are they VGT's?" Ryuu nodded and Daichi sighed. "And I thought that you were incredibly fast on mountain passes.. Anyways, Sam asked me to find out what you had done to your car."  
Ryuu smiled a bit. "I hope he's not a sore looser. He just didn't stand a chance back then. We were testing high boost program, and then, added the boost scramble into the mix." Daichi laughed. "Naw, he's British and a gentleman on the road. Do you dare to tell me how much power this engine develops?"

Ryuu was smiling almost evilly. "Well, on low boost mode and with boost scramble enabled, the rearwheels are delivering 640bhp. On high boost mode, we're talking of 895bhp on pump gas." Daichi looked at him, not certain if his friend was joking or not. "And according to Katashi, with high octane race fuel it'll kick out 920 bhp." Daichi was silent for a while, before he asked about the old engine.  
"What about the twincharged 4A-GE? Are you going to sell it or..?" Ryuu shook his head. "It will still be used in Touge runs. We need to improve some stuff before moving deeper to Wangan racing. Yes, I'd be competitive already on Wangan, but I like Touge more.." Daichi nodded, looking at the car more closely. "Carbonfibre hood.. What else is new?" Ryuu started listing the new stuff in the car.

"The doors, underbody is flat now, with diffusers at the back. Gearbox is new, and if Akira's estimate was correct, the ratios won't end before 250mph. The engine revs up to 13 000 rpms, and the idle is ridiculously high. The traction is a severe problem, or more like the lack of it. I said to Katashi that I was tempted to get ATTESA-system from a Pulsar Gti-R. We have to see how the drivetrain can handle the stress." Daichi was impressed. He knew that Ryuu had some ambitions, but this was pretty insane even for ambitious young man. He decided to change the subject.

"BTW, I heard that you're going out with Akane." Ryuu blushed and stuttered. "E-errmm.. well.. kinda.. I.. I mean we don't.. you know.." Daichi laughed. That was more like the usual Ryuu he knew. "No sweat, it's not my business. All I can say is that you're damn lucky, dating a successful female racer that drives an NSX." Ryuu just bit his lip, looking away. Daichi laughed again, patting his shoulder and left.

The next morning Ryuu was awakened by the phone. It was Akane. "Good morning, sleepyhead! Time to rise and shine!" Ryuu's audible groan resulted as a cheerful giggles at the other end. "Now now, Ryuu-kun, you remember that we have date today, don't you?" Ryuu grunted something. Akane was indeed a determined young woman. She knew what she wanted, and did her best to make it happen.  
"Yeah, I do remember. I just had a long night." Akane laughed, "So I've heard. Defeating 500bhp+ Supra and GT-R on first outing is not a bad achievement for that cute car of yours." Ryuu simply ignored the tease, sighing. "I'll pick you up at quarter to 11, alright?" Akane agreed and closed the phone. Ryuu looked at the clock. "7:30.. oh well.." He got up from the bed and went to shower.

Ryuu's heavily modified KP60 stopped at Akane's apartment. He knew that blaring the horn wouldn't get any points from Akane, so he blipped the throttle slightly. Rev's shot up to 13k rpms, and as he eased off the throttle, whistle blow off valve and the backfire turned loads of heads in the neighborhood. Akane peeked out of the window, then vanished, just to rush out of the door seconds later.  
"What the heck was that? Did 787B pass by or something?" She asked from Ryuu, who just grinned and blipped the rev-happy engine's gas pedal once more. Akane's cheeks blushed as she realised that this car had finally transformed to a real dragon. "Please, can we go on highway, pretty please, Ryuu-kun? And what are the engine specs? Does it still have supercharger and boost scramble?" Ryuu laughed as they drove off, answering to her questions as well as he could. It would be a day that Akane wouldn't forget soon.

_**In the next chapter, our hero returns to Touge scenery as he get's challenged by the team number four, the Cheetah brothers. Daichi's R32 gets some minor updates inspired by Ryuu's KP60, and Pink returns with revenge.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Run, Spot, run for your honor!**

During the dark hours of night, mountains guarded the peace of the night when the nature slept. But sometimes, even the mountains were disturbed by some arrogant, short-living bipeds, who built their roads, tunnels and houses all over the mountain range. But nature adjusted into that, accepting it as the part of evolution. But lately, different kind of disturbance had started shredding the calmness of the night.

Six cylinders, 24 valves, two turbochargers and 2.6 liters. Normally, that would equate approximately 320bhp. But not so in Daichi's blazing blue R32 VSII. His car had been modified up to 420 bhp, which gave it top speed of 170mph. It was fast.. on straights. But tonight, that thing had been changed forever.

Daichi's heart was pounding as he buried the throttle to the floor, exiting the tight hairpin faster than ever. Earlier, his R32 would had understeered to the rail ages ago, but now it just gripped, gripped some more and urged Daichi to press the throttle some more, just to find out the limits. This far he hadn't reached them.

Daichi laughed out loud, following the urge and his R32 V-Spec II charged out of the hairpin section, into the fast serpentine section. Small tap on the brakes shifted the weight to the front, and previously oh-so-clumsy and stubborn R32 started a perfect, smooth AWD drift., sailing through the mild corner gracefully, just like it had done in Daichi's dreams. But this time it was real.

Sam followed Daichi's uphill run with binoculars. He didn't want to believe his eyes. Stubborn, old understeer queen called R32 GT-R was performing 4WD drifts? He glanced at his trustworthy R33 N1, and sighed as he felt a sting of guilty. His car had been built for highways, not for narrow mountain roads. Still, he wondered if his car could handle like that someday as well.

Soon Daichi pulled over at the pylon on the top of the hill. Sam walked to him, smiling. "Hey there, Daichi-San. I heard some talk that your R32 had reborn as much more agile car, but I didn't believe it before I saw it. Incredible.." Daichi chuckled happily, bathing in the admiration of a fellow GT-R owner. "Indeed. That little front-end diet did wonders, not to mention the upgraded drivetrain."

They chattered about this and that for a while, before returning to Daichi's R32's recent modifications.

"Well, basically I asked a friend of me take molds from the front body panels and make them from carbonfiber. It wasn't cheap, but it paid off as you saw. But finding that crashed R34 Nur's complete ATTESA-ETS PRO/Super HICAS drivetrain system was pure luck." Daichi shivered as he remembered the amount of money he had spent on the mods.

"So, it's not only lighter, but also as nimble as R34? I'll be damned.. I'm envious about your car, and that doesn't happen often to me." Daichi grinned. "Have you heard? Midnight Dragon has folded her wings for a while. Ryuu's not going to attack Wangan yet." Sam winced as he remembered that flip-painted beast that left him breathing the exhaust fumes on the highway. "Well, I can assure you, that I'm not very sad about that.. Did you get any information from him?"

Daichi nodded, and told what he had found out about the new engine of the KP60. " Twin-VGT's and overboost? In a Wankel engine, that's fitted to a car which weights less than 800 kilos stock..? " Sam sighed heavily, feeling dumbstruck, yet relieved. He hadn't been beaten by mere tinkered fourpotter, but highly tuned masterpiece. He propably would had punched himself hard if it would had been a lesser engine than that monster.

"I see.. but I think that it did hurt more into Pink's ego than mine. After all, he claims that he has fastest rwd Toyota in the region." Daichi smirked at Sam's remark. "It probably WAS fastest, Sam.. now it's just little spot in Ryuu's mirror. Now, let's get back to town before morning shifts start, I want to see if I can keep up with your Wangan monster." Sam grinned and headed to his car, and soon, duetto of modified RB26DETT's was echoing from the walls of the dark mountain.

_In the morning.. _

Ryuu yawned as he slowly climbed off his bed. Night with Akane had went well, but still, he thought that he shouldn't had taken so many beers. His head felt like a drum beaten by sumo-wrestler, and he assumed that the neighbors cat had used his mouth as litterbox, judging from the taste. He groaned as the room swayed in his eyes, and then, taking slow, tentative steps, he headed to the toilet.

He had this thought that he had missed something important as he brushed his teeths. And right on the next instant, he managed to poke the brush hard into his cheek, spewing the foam from his mouth from the shock as semi-naked Akane stepped out from the shower. "Good morning to you too, sweetie." Akane chuckled as Ryuu did his best not to choke and hide his own bare body. "oh, don't act coy, I saw enough of that last night, _stud.._"

If he would had used old-fashioned razor for shaving, he would had slit his wrists from the sheer amount of embarrasment as the blurry memories from last night returned to his sore mind.

"Urrrhhh.. I.. did we.. you and I.. I mean.. we.. right?" Ryuu mumbled, still bright red from the embarrasment. Akane smirked. "Four times, hun.. four times. Now, there's some coffee, bacon and toast if you like." She said, sailing past Ryuu, and 'accidentally' slapped his butt, causing Ryuu to yelp.

_About an hour later_

Ryuu felt himself somewhat humane now. He had driven Akane to her home, standing her continuous teasing like a man, and after that, he had returned to his apartment and took a short, cold shower that brought him back to his senses, more or less. He glanced his clock, just to see that he had about 15 minutes to get to Hideaki's garage so they could swap the super-turbocharged 4A-GE back. "Oh bugger. I guess I have to step on it in broad daylight.."

Katashi was already standing in the yard as Ryuu swerved on the driveway, grinning widely. Akira came out too, muttering to his father. "Look at that smirk.. Either he has got laid or then he just did 150 in the middle of morning traffic." Katashi just grunted, flipping his cigarette away and walked to garage.

_hours later_

"There, She's ready to rumble again." Akira said, shooting a disbelieving glance at Ryuu, who was spacing out with a soft smile on his face. "Ryuu..? Earth calls space dork Ryuu? OI!" Ryuu didn't awaken before Akira tossed oily rug at his face.

"What now? Oh, she's ready..? Fluids changed and all?" Akira nodded, wiping his hands clean, looking like he'd burst unless he wouldn't know what had happened last night. He started to make careful questions, which just made Ryuu's intolerable grin even wider. Finally Akira managed to ask the big question, just to hear the worst. "H-he got laid before I did.."

Ryuu slapped his friends shoulder comfortingly. "Hey, it's not that bad.. besides, I was drunk, so I don't remember much.. so I don't think I'll count that." That saved Akira's day. After cleaning the body panels from oil and other fluids, and checking that all wirings were done right, Ryuu drove off from the Hideaki's carage, heading to the mountains, where he belonged.. for now.

It took a while to get used to the old engine again. Ryuu knew that he wasn't slow, but everything seemed to happen in slow motion after the new engines test run. His car was now tuned with grip in mind, but small, or as some would call it, ideal drifts were still available.

It was still daytime, so he didn't raise his speed too much, because he could tell that these roads weren't empty during the day.

But now someone was gaining him at high speed. He couldn't tell the make or model until it had almost reached him. "FD RX-7? And he's in a hurry.." Ryuu muttered, putting on his turning signal and moving closer to the wall, so the RX.-7 could pass him. RX-7 just flashed it's headlights. Ryuu noticed that the car had been modified with RE-Amemiya's bodykit. "Sheesh.. does he really think that he's Keisuke Takahashi..?" He sighed. Ryuu decided that he'd floor it until the next gas station, that was some miles ahead. "Keep up if you can, fanboy!"

The driver of RX-7 just grinned as he heard the revs rising. But the grin faded quickly as the old slowpoke of a Starlet leaped forwards accompanied by unique sound mixture of turbo and supercharger, pulling multiple carlengths on him before he got his RX-7 to the useful rev range. "Fast..! That really is the Midnight Dragon..!" Yuuka Tsubasa thought, as he pressed the throttle, urging his RX-7 into high speed chase. "Brother.. we have a new challenger right here.."

Ryuu looked how the RX-7 got smaller in his rearview mirror and laughed. "Kids these days.." He eased off some, still keeping up a good pace. The RX-7 was slowly creeping back to it's position. Ryuu didn't want to play in the daylight, so when the fuel station came up, he pulled over for fuel. The RX-7 followed.

Ryuu was already filling his tank with high-octane as the RX-7 stopped next to him and the driver stepped out. "Nice ride you got there.. Say, isn't that the Midnight Dragon?" Yuuka asked, looking at the KP60 more closely. Ryuu nodded, grinning a bit. "Yeah, that's her. How so?"

Yuuka started refuelling his car. "Just curious.. You're probably our next challenger. I'm Yuuka Tsubasa, the other half of Cheetah Brothers, the fourth team of this area." Ryuu lifted his eyebrows. "I hope you were going full throttle back there?" Ryuu nodded. "I did go all out until I couldn't see you no longer. What about you?" Yuuka laughed. "I was going flat out too, but my turbo setup needs some revs to work, as you noticed. Price of single turbo setup.." Ryuu nodded. He had pondered why RX-7's acceleration had been so slow in the beginning.

"Anyways, you have some serious machinery there. You defeated Three Katanas with ease, or so I heard." Ryuu smiled. "Well, it wasn't that easy race, but the stakes were high.." Yuuka nodded. " Are you gonna be around tonight? I thought that if I can catch my bro, we could have a race." Ryuu pondered for a while. It hadn't been long since he had defeated Three Katanas, but if it would mean money to him, he would agree. "I'm not sure if I'm available tonight, but.. during this or next week, if it suits you." Yuuka agreed with that, finishing the refueling and went in to pay the fuel with Ryuu.

Ryuu spent that day driving along the mountain passes. Few times he thought he had seen slightly familiar car in his rearview mirror, but it always vanished before he got better look. "_Ugh. That hangover was way worse than I thought, I guess.._"

Finally the night arrived to the mountains. Ryuu was flying up and down the roads, chasing down imaginary racers, trying to figure out new ways to beat them. But suddenly, after a really long straight, his practicing was interrupted abruptly with a deep roar of twin turbocharged inline six. "Whaaaa..?!" As they went under the lights, he finally saw th car properly. He had thought that it was Daichi, but no. It was that white-neon pink Supra from Wangan, and it was tailgating him. "You again? In here? Gimme a break..!"

It indeed was Pink's Supra. He hadn't got over the humiliating loss at the highway, right in front of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. "I got you now, punk..! No-one humiliates the king of Wangan without punishment!"

Both cars were going flat out already. Supra was flashing it's headlights and blaring it's horn, just inches away from the KP60's rearbumper. "What's wrong with you? Can't find the right pedal, noob?!" Pink wasn't aware of the engine swap at all. He thought that this was the same monster that had defeated him with ease on Wangan. But it wasn't. They were doing 140mph, and that was as fast as Midnight Dragon could do in it's Touge spec. Ryuu grunted, hoping that there would be some corners soon. Then he could get rid of that over-powered, overweight Supra.

Pink almost crashed as they arrived to the first slow bend. He wasn't used to driving in mountains. Lighter KP60, that was more suitable for this kind of roads, started slowly gain some distance to the Supra. Pink cursed loudly, slamming on throttle and practically doing a burnout through a short straight between corners, then slipping into wobbly drift through the corner, scraping the rail slightly. Ryuu kept checking his mirrors, grinning as he saw the difficulties of the big sports coupe. "_You're starting to understand, fool.. you have to drift to keep up with me!_" He grinned as his car went to next corner, rear tires sliding just a bit.

Pink was shouting curses and sweating heavily. It indeed was tougher than he had thought. His big Supra was too slow in corners, and almost too big for drifts on these narrow roads. And on short straights he couldn't get traction. He got more and more frustrated, adding the speed even though it was risky for him. "I won't be beaten by that POS again, you hear me?!"

Ryuu saw the Supra closing in. "_Oh, you're fast on straights? But.. you know, there's one thing here in the mountain.. do you remember what always comes after a straight..?_" Supra's nose dipped as Pink stepped hard on the brakes, almost making the car spin as he turned to the tight hairpin. Ryuu laughed. "Just give up, idiot. You'll just end up with wrecked ride." Just as he said that, Pink lost control at the exit of the hairpin and spun, barely avoiding a collision with the wall. Ryuu didn't slow down as he left the angry Wangan specialist behind.

Pink got out of his car, shouting from frustration."I'll get you sooner or later, you hear me?! I won't stop until your car is wrecked, you hear me?! FUCKHEAD!! Run away while you can!"

**_In the next chapter Ryuu has a friendly rematch with Daichi and his reborn Godzilla. He also meets Sam and few other members from Sam's small GT-R specialist team called Skyline Squadron, while preparing to race the Cheetah brothers_**.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Mom, can AWD's drift?**

On top of the mountain, the radio pylon's parking lot was occupied. Seven pretty similar looking cars had been parked there. This small meeting was for Nissan's finest and their proud drivers only. Daichi looked at the six other cars that were driven by Sam's GT-R specialist team, known as "**_The Skyline Squadron_**". There was two of each generation represented, all of them tuned slightly. Or at least stock bodywork did give such impression. Only the wing and rims were changed in them, and two had some stickers on them. The drivers were standing in front of their cars, chattering happily. Daichi could tell that there was at least three different nationalities right there.

"So, this is the famous Skyline Squadron.. I have to say, I'm impressed. Care to introduce us?" Daichi asked from Sam, who nodded. "Where do you want to start?" Daichi looked at Sam like he would had asked something stupid, and from Daichi's point of view, he HAD asked something stupid. "From R32's, of course!" Sam smirked and walked to the R32's with Daichi. The rest if the team joined them.

"Alright, this mop-head here is Leonidae, or Leon for buddies, and he drives R32 GT-R V-Spec II. He's even bigger R32 fanatic that you are, and knows small bits and pieces that even Nissan's engineers have difficulties to remember about R32.  
His driving style is quite neutral, but sometimes he likes to show off to noobs that even R32 can drift. He's Finnish, thus, fast driving is part of his national heritage. He also was first one who pushed R34 GT-R beyond 300mph in Gran Turismo 4, so he's fast in real life and virtual world too. His current setup is pushing bit over 500 bhp, if I recall right." Leon, short Finn grinned. "509bhp to be exact. Rest of the car is quite much similar to yours. On good day, I've been able to keep up with Pagani's and such." Daichi nodded, and they proceeded to the next R32, and Daichi noticed the stickers and subtle NisMo badge. He rushed behind the car.

"NisMo S-Tune..?! I want to know everything about it!" Daichi walked back to the team members and Sam continued. "Rrrright.. so.. this is, like you noticed, NisMo S-Tune, or like Greycap here likes to call it, "The ultimate R32 GT-R", whatever that means." Sam got a friendly punch from Leon.  
"Alright, back on business. The engine has similar output to Leon's, but the power delivery is bit different, right?" Greycap, the driver of S-Tune just nodded. Sam grinned. "See, that's legendary basic Finn. He doesn't laugh, smile or cry, he just has one expression." Daichi laughed a bit, before asking a question. "Why do they have similar outputs? These engines could easily offer more than mere 500bhp."  
Sam didn't have time to answer, as Leon cut in. "it's Finnish legislation. If our cars would be strictly roadlegal, they'd push out about 400bhp, since legally we can either add 20 of power or 25 of displacement. But this output is enough for our roads.  
And to be exact, Greycap's output has one more bhp than I do, but I have more torque than he does. I believe that it's the nature of the engine block and crank in NisMo S-Tune. His car also feels a lot stiffer or more understeery than mine, so I'm willing to believe that NisMo has fiddled with ATTESA's programming and suspension. It feels like race car, that has all the grunt way above 5000 RPM's."

Daichi nodded again. He simply loved these two R32's. He knew that his own R32 wasn't bad either, but it didn't have the refinement yet, as his suspension setup hadn't been fine-tuned yet. They moved on to the two R33's. The white one, Sam's own R33 GT-R N1 was familiar to Daichi already, so they skipped it and got into Luke's R33.  
"Hm, another R33 N1?" Luke, the owner of the car responded. "They're more common in the UK, and there's plenty of tuner garages that know how to work out with them. And not a word about how their look screams early 90's.." Daichi just looked at Sam and Luke innocently, whereas Leon laughed out loud.  
"Every R33 driver has sensitive spot right there when the looks of the car comes into discussion.." Leon said, smirking, getting annoyed glare from Sam, who moved on to the R34's.

"Well I'll be damned. Another NisMo GT-R?" Sam nodded. "It's NisMo R34 R-Tune, the 'entry level model' of Z-Tune. Same car, bit milder looking though. Never the less, Alan still loves it, because he has defeated most of the M-powered vehicles around his home town in mid-europe.. not to mention occasional supercars." Daichi shook his head. "You guys really keep up the pride and reputation of GT-R's.. Oh, there's one more N1?" Daichi asked as he noticed the beautiful white R34 that had carbon bonnet.  
"Yes, that's Chris's R34 GT-R V-Spec II N1. He wanted it for it's superb engine response and driveability. He lives in Austria, and there are plenty of lovely mountain roads to drive along. Though, they're not as exciting as these are." Daichi smiled, then looked down from the mountain, listening for the sound of twincharged 4A-GE.

"Now, all we need is our hero in his shoppingbag and the main event will start..." Sam twitched at the word 'shoppingbag'. "Oy.. that 'shoppingbag' did defeat my R33 with ease, so it's formidable opponent, despite having less power now. I also heard that Pink had sneaked on him on this same mountain pass and got beaten even more severely than back then on highway." Daichi sighed. He knew that he didn't have much chances, but he wanted to know if these latest modifications could pay themselves back in the future.

Ryuu had just finished giving an interview to the WTCR-magazine. He had been bit surprised as he heard that Akira's little brother, Kohaku was a junior cameraman and video editor of the DVD's they distributed.  
"Alright, that's about it.. but, I have to go now, I have a rematch against Daichi." Ryuu said, looking at his clock. Then he got an idea. He looked at the older reporter and Kohaku. "You guys haven't had any in-car videos yet, right? Both my and Daichi's car have mounts for cameras, and there's a possibility that there's a third car involved too. You could get some spectacular footage." The journalists didn't need more persuading. They all got into Ryuu's Starlet and headed to the mountain.

Pink was on the move too. He had been following Ryuu's movements closely, looking for a chance to pay back these humiliations he had been through. He had also been practicing his drifting after fixing his damaged bumper. He was literally obsessed about beating that ridiculously fast piece of junk. He had heard that there would be a downhill race tonight between Midnight Dragon and some mildly modified R32 GT-R, and realized that this would be his chance. He had driven almost to the top of the mountain, near the pylon where the GT-R team had been waiting. He had found a small sideroad, where he drove, starting to wait his prey's arrival.

At the base of the mountain, Midnight Dragon started it's climb towards the top. Ryuu didn't push it too hard, since he wanted to save his tires. Though, his average pace seemed pretty fast to the journalists aboard his car. The weight of three extra people aboard disturbed Ryuu's cornering a bit, and the car felt sluggish. "This extra weight isn't good.. I think you guys have to get along with videocameras only." The senior journalist nodded. He didn't feel very comfortable, and he knew that he would be horrified if he would have to sit aboard this madman as he would attack the downhill at full speed.

_20 minutes later_

Finally Daichi could hear the familiar sound of twincharged engine approaching the top of the mountain. The members of the Skyline Squadron were eager to see what kind of car could defeat their leader with ease on highway. Well, most of them at least, excluding their leader. Sam had told them that he had been beaten by old Toyota, but nothing more than that. As the front lights appeared , few members thought that it could be old Corolla, KE25 or such. As Ryuu finally drove under lights, there were more than few stunned gasps.

"SWEET! It's KP60 Starlet!" Yelled Leon, who had always had a soft spot for that tiny hatchback. "No wonder that you got beaten, Sam.. But it's in it's Touge specs now, right?" Sam nodded. "It SHOULD be making 320bhp maximum.. but I wouldn't be surprised if it would have some more."  
They watched as Ryuu turned the car around. Sam noticed that the front bumper/spoiler and rear-spoiler were different, and the exhausts were smaller. "The dragon has folded it's wings, but I'm pretty sure it runs down the mountain just as fast as it flies on highway.."

Ryuu shut down the engine, and stepped out of the car, followed by the reporters. After short introductions, Sam finally got to talk with Ryuu face to face. "So, you're the one who defeated me and my rival just in front of my girlfriend.." Ryuu looked a bit puzzled, before realizing what he was talking about. "Oh, right, that high boost run on Wangan. Sorry about that. If I would had known that you had female on board, I could had let you continue that sandbox fight.." Sam laughed. "I'm glad that you did interfere, there could had been an accident later. But I heard that Pink has been a pain in the butt after that incident."

Ryuu shook his head. "That guy should stay on Wangan. That over-sized butch-machine is not suitable for Touge. Too much power, too tight suspension and way too much power. He nearly crashed when he chased me last time." Sam nodded, agreeing fully.

After few moments of friendly chatter about their cars and whatnot, Kohaku told Ryuu and Daichi that the cameras were set. Leon was chosen to be the chasing camera car, and the senior reporter would sit in the car. "Well, at least he'll improve the overall balance of the car.." Throttle happy Finn had muttered.  
The cars lined up. Ryuu would lead the first run, followed by Daichi and Leon. They had no clue that there was someone keeping eye on their preparations.

"_So, they're letting the Dragon lead first? That means that my chance will come during the second run as they go past.._" Pink thought as he looked carefully towards the starting point. _"Three cars..? Three-way battle maybe? No.. Wait.. Those are reporters from WTCR-mag.. They must have installed cameras.. Can't be helped.. and it's even better if it gets filmed when I slay that out-dated junkpile.." _Pink smirked slightly and returned to his car, preparing for the second run.

"5..4..3..2..1.. **GO!**" Sam swung his hand down, and three cars roared past him in a blink of an eye, twincharged Toyota's unique sound almost drowning to the snarl of the two RB26DETT's. The rest of his team was amazed, since the tiny Toyota had managed to keep it's position despite being RWD. Greycap wasn't very amazed. "Light weight is one of the greatest weapons in downhill, followed by braking. It evens up the power advantage and superb traction of GT-R's pretty well.. I wonder if Leon can keep up with them, after all, their cars are way lighter than his." The rest of the team looked bit uncertain. "Could GT-R really lose to that old hatchback?" Chris asked. Sam nodded. "Yes. I, if who, have first hand knowledge about that matter.. Back then it had almost twice as much power as I had.. Now it's other way round. But here it has light weight and compact size, not to mention better handling on it's side. Ryuu was indeed smart when he chose that car."

In the cockpit of the Starlet, Kohaku was holding on for his dear life. His brother had told that Ryuu was fast driver, but forgot to mention that he was insane kamikaze-candidate as well. Most of the time, Kohaku was certain that they were out of control or crashing, but somehow, Ryuu piloted the car between the blurry scenery, like he would be following a complex line that only he could see. The engine howled, hissed and whined, making the car shiver like it would had been a living being. From time to time, Daichi's engine could be heard over the cacophony of noises.

Daichi knew that it wouldn't be easy battle. The young reporter next to him was doing the same as Kohaku, clinging to the door and whatever he could grip to hold still in his bucket seat. The KP60 in front of him was almost teasing him, occasionally letting him close before almost slipping out from the glare of his headlights. "Why you.. I'll show you what my reborn Godzilla can do! " He floored the throttle, sling-shotting his car out from the hairpin, chasing the old Toyota mercilessly, followed closely by Leon's more powerful V-Spec II.

"They're fast.. But that KP60 seems to be just toying with us.. Oh, there he goes." Leon said as the blue GT-R in front of him started to get smaller. He pressed the throttle as well, keeping up with his power rather than driving technique. The older reporter looked like he'd faint any moment. "F-faast...!"

Ryuu was slightly startled as he noticed how close Daichi had got. "Damn.. he caught up! Alright, Kohaku, hold on tight, now we'll go flat out." Ryuu grinned, blipping the throttle as he downshifted and entered another tight hairpin.  
Kohaku just could whine, since his voice had failed. _"He wasn't going at full throttle yet?!"_ Then he noticed something strange. The car was accelerating while IN the corner, and it was also drifting slightly. "W_hat the..?" _He looked at Ryuu, then the steeringwheel, that seemed to be straight. "_It can't be.."_  
Ryuu paid no attention to Kohaku's shocked expression as he kept his foot down, performing nearly perfect zero-countersteer drift with very small angle. He hadn't mastered it yet, but he was able to use it when needed, and at the moment it was the right thing to do. Despite the fact that this was a friendly rematch, he had no intention to lose.

Daichi could only watch in shock as the Starlet vanished behind the corner in front of him. He applied more throttle, and the rear wheels slipped slightly, but not enough to engage the front wheels. "D-damn.. Fast.. Gotta go for it at final straight!" He cursed his incomplete suspension setup that didn't allow him to apply more throttle in corners. Never the less, he was faster in corners than Leon.  
"Ooh boy, he almost drifted there. I wonder if ATTESA kicked in.. But I think he lifted his foot from the throttle." Older reporter looked horrified. "B-but these cars are 4WD! They can't be drifted!" Leon just grinned. " O rly..? Don't make me demonstrate it to you.. But the last straight is close, that'll be Daichi's last chance to try catching up and passing Ryuu." Older reporter nodded. He knew this mountain pass quite well, after all, he had been on the passanger seat as the older Hideaki had been driving.

Slowly but certainly, Daichi's R32 closed the distance between it and the KP60. The fast final section had started, and the downhill wasn't advantageous to the lighter Starlet anymore. "Ha! I got you now, Ryuu! You can't outrun me on straights!"

Ryuu kept the throttle down, smiling widely as he saw Daichi closing in. "You thing you got me on straights? Think again, buddy.." He pressed the boost scramble button, and Kohaku couldn't do anything else but shout "WHEEEEE!!!!!", as his back was pressed firmly to the seat. Starlet's speed kept growing at similar pace as Daichi's. Leon closed in too. "Well I'll be damned.. He's keeping the distance! It's up to second run now."

Indeed it was so. They had returned to the pylon's parking lot, and Daichi was having a very interesting discussion with Leon. Ryuu was drinking water. He didn't want to admit it, but it had been a close one. He knew that if he would had left the boost scramble out, he would had been defeated on the first run. Kohaku was talking with the other reporters, and they were pretty excited. This would be excellent addition to their next DVD.

After half an hour, they got ready for the second round. Daichi would be chased this time, followed by Ryuu and Leon. Pink was waiting already, his engine idling. He'd attack as soon as they'd pass his hiding spot.  
Soon enough, the roar of the engines grew louder, and Pink started revving his engine, trying to get as much boost as he could. Then they passed him, and he lifted the clutch, launching his Supra after the three racers.

"What the..? There's a fourth car behind us, and it ain't a GT-R.. Supra..? Oh great, it's that lowlife from the highway." Leon grunted as he noticed the white coupe that was gaining them. He flashed his highbeams to Ryuu and Daichi, so they'd know that they had company.

Ryuu looked into his mirrors, seeing a glimpse of the Supra behind Leon's R32. "Ahhh.. The TougeNewb is here." He chuckled and pushed him out of his mind, concentrating on Daichi. Daichi ignored the interfering douchebag as well, flooring the throttle and headed to the hairpins, followed closely by Ryuu and leaving the Supra to Leon. "Alright, old man.. hold on tight, now you'll experience something wild."

Daichi and Ryuu had already entered the hairpin, and Pink was right on Leon's tail, as if he would try to pass him right before the hairpin. "The hell you will..!" Leon growled, and swerved towards the outside of the corner, scaring the hell out of the older reporter, who yelled in horror. The scream died as soon as it had started, when Leon turned the wheel sharply, breaking the traction in the rear and floored the throttle, initiating flawless power-over drift and keeping it through the corner, right in front of Pink's Supra that had to slow down to avoid crashing.

They exited the corner, followed by outraged Pink. "That was Scandinavian Flick, old man.. Something what you wouldn't expect from a understeery R32, eh?" Leon grinned charmingly, and did it again, just to piss off Pink, who had to slow down again.

"Get the hell out of my way, you idiot! I have a score to settle with him!" Pink yelled as he stood on the brake, barely avoiding collision with the crazy GT-R that was drifting in front of him. He decided that he'd start drifting too in the next corner, just to show that he could do it as well.

Ryuu noticed that Leon was blocking Pinks overtaking efforts easily, so he concentrated on Daichi's GT-R. He could tell which areas had been improved since their last race. There were few areas that had been vastly improved, and some areas, that were just nominally better. Daichi could turn better and brake later than before, but he still didn't push the limits of the car. Ryuu closed in at the corners, starting to add pressure on Daichi. "Knock knock..! Guess who's right in your trunk?"

Daichi swore as he saw how close the Starlet was. He felt that he was pushed hard from behind, that he wasn't fast enough. He increased his pace, even though he knew the risks.

Pink was within few meters from Leon's GT-R as they approached the next corner. Daichi and Ryuu had cleared it already, increasing the distance. Pink decided that he'd pass this wacky GT-R after this corner. He prepared for the unusual movement that the GT-R had done this far before entering the corner. He initiated his drift.. just to notice that the GT-R hadn't opened the inside line this time. "OH FUCK...!!!!!" He instinctively turned the wheel more than was needed, and then he turned from driver to passenger.

"Now he's done it, he can't recover from that one." Leon grinned and accelerated his car out of the way as the Supra initiated it's drift. The older reporter looked behind as the Supra skidded towards the wall, unable to recover from the error. They could hear the plastic crunch as the white coupe slammed against the wall without control and vanished from the view. "So much about that car.." Leon grinned, going after Ryuu and Daichi.

Ryuu was pressing Daichi hard from every possible direction. He attacked inside line, he made false attack to the outside, forcing Daichi to look at his mirrors instead of the road ahead. Daichi was sweating heavily, and the reporter next to him was silent.

Finally, in the few last corners, his cars tyres couldn't keep the car in the line, and he slipped towards outside. Next thing he heard was the unmistakable howl of well-tuned twincharged 4A-GE, as Ryuu took the inside line, applying the boost scramble and using his light cars grip, pushing the small chassis into the opened space. Daichi knew that he couldn't close the line anymore without crashing. Small and nimble KP60 slowly but certainly went side by side with Daichi's R32, achieving the goal at the same time. "Damn..! He's nuts.. in a place like this.." Daichi cursed as he eased off the throttle, stopping the car. Leon arrived soon, grinning savagely.

The got out of the cars. "No more need to worry about Pink. His car was disintegrating against the wall last time we saw him. Too bad that he didn't go through guardrail.." Leon said.

"What happened?" Ryuu asked.

"Well, honestly speaking, he got fooled by a Mad Finn.. He thought I needed to do Scandinavian flick every time I start the drift, thus, he thought he could take the inside line. But in the last one, I simply broke the traction with braking. He over-corrected and then he went to kiss the wall. Stupid brat.." Ryuu and Daichi laughed. "Well, how about you two? I didn't have time to keep the eye on you guys, thanks to that idiot back there."

Daichi sighed. "He won. He pushed me so hard that I had to increase my pace and my tires got too hot and lost traction. He got side by side with me on this straight, so I guess it counts as his win."

About an hour later they gathered on service station nearby. They saw how tow truck pulled Pinks wrecked Supra behind it, and laughed. Ryuu knew that Pink would be back someday, but he didn't want to worry about that. Thus he pushed it out of his mind and went to have some junk food with his new friends.

_**In the next chapter, Cheetah Brothers show Ryuu the real potential of proper rotary drivers. Ryuu will also visit the Wangan again, just to see if he could reach the top speed!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: 4x652+1580Battle!**

Ryuu stepped out from the small grocery. He had bought some food and stuff, since earlier this morning he had noticed that all his fridge kept inside was light, and even that was bit dim. As he stepped out with the bags of food, he noticed a small paper note under his cars windshield wiper.

"_**Tonight at the pylon's parking lot , at 11:30. We'll wait you there with gallery."**_

_**Cheetah Brothers**_

And underneath their names was a paw, that had rotary rotors as toes and palm. Ryuu couldn't suffocate amused snort. "Right.." he put the note into his pocket and returned to his apartment. He had some other arrangements to do as well.

Few hours later he was at Hideaki's garage. He noticed that there was a pile of parts that seemed to belong into some 4WD machine. Some electronic circuits were scattered on the table nearby too, so it couldn't be much else than ATTESA from old Pulsar Gti-R, updated with wrecked R34 GT-R's ETS PRO-system. "My oh my.. Katashi, why are these things scattered here like this? ETS Pro circuitry, ATTESA-drivetrain.. unless..?"

Older Hideaki just glanced at him with a wicked grin. "Same deal as earlier. Win and you get them installed for cheap price. Lose and you have to pay full price plus the work." Ryuu bit his lip. The stakes were high indeed. But he decided to play old mans game for a change.

"If I win, you install these into my car.. but if I win by.. say, 4 second margin or more, you'll add free reinforced and lightened carbonfibre driveshafts." Akira dropped the screwdriver as he heard that, but older Hideaki just grinned. "Willing to gamble already, hmm?"

Akira didn't know what to say. Obviously his friend had gone nuts, but if his father would agree, then he wouldn't be sure which one was nuts. The carbonfibre driveshafts would cost almost as much as the drivetrain and electronics together. The silence ended as the older Hideaki cleared his throat, lighting a cigarette. "Four seconds or more and you'll have those fancy driveshafts. Under four seconds and you'll let me have the car for few weekends when I'll go to see girls at the town."

Akira's mouth hung open. _"That filthy old pervert! Always thinking of girls!"_ Ryuu laughed. "That'll be fine by me, as long as you don't burn the clutch or wreck the car otherwise, old man. We have a deal then?" Katashi nodded and Ryuu shook hands with him.

"Okay, now that we've dealt with that, we need to think if there's need to change the setup for this race", Ryuu said. Akira nodded weakly, still dumbstruck by this sudden, unexpected gamble. "In the last race, the tail was still bit too loose. I think we need to adjust the rear toe out slightly in order to make the rear bit more steady. The damper's rebound needs to be faster and anti roll bar needs some adjustment too.." Akira nodded and started to work with his father and Ryuu. They had enough time to complete the setup and check the rest of the car before the night.

After finishing the check-up, Akira did some searching in the forums of WTCR-mag. He found out that the reward from beating the fourth team of the area was twice as much as the one Ryuu got from defeating the Three Katana's. He told this to Ryuu, whose eyes lit up from enthusiasm.

"Damn, I could buy another KP60 and install the Wangan stuff into that! No more need for swaps then.." Akira agreed, he had thought of that as well. Katashi walked behind them as well, peeking to the screen. "Nearly 4 million yens? Not bad, not bad.. but you'll get more than 10 times as much when you'll be pro."

Ryuu nodded slightly. Maybe after defeating all teams of this area.. but there was always someone faster. Usually he was the one who was faster, but he knew that this couldn't keep going on forever. He sighed a bit. He noticed that there was some coffee left, so he took freedom to pour a cup for himself.

He sat on the hood of his car, spacing off to distance, wondering what certain girl was doing at the moment. Maybe she was blasting down a mountain pass in her JGTC NSX replica or something.. but then he shook his head and sipped his coffee, listening the discussion between Akira and Katashi. They agreed that it would be more practical to get two cars for different purposes. It would save time and such a lot.

"Say, kid, you gonna buy another car for Wangan runs?" Katashi asked from Ryuu, sitting next to him. "It has crossed my mind. If I win this one, I'll probably do that. Akira could start searching for possible victim via Internet." Older Hideaki nodded, looking at the young man next to him. He certainly had those qualities what proper racing driver needed. He had tactical eye, he knew what would be efficient and understood how the car should be set up for different tracks and purposes. He also had fighting spirit and cunningness. "I'll be at your disposal in this project. But I'm not sure which one will be more famous: The original Midnight Dragon or it's future brother.." Ryuu chuckled. Sometimes the old man was bit too sentimental.

Yuuka watched how the darkness fell on the mountains, and the lights ignited, illuminating the dangerous, cold roads. His brother, Nori, was pulling last breaths from his cigarette as the clock crept closer to half twelve. Yuuka knew that his brother was nervous. He was anxious too, after he had heard that Midnight dragon was also known on Wangan as well. He was intrigued by the rumor that on Wangan, the Midnight dragon used Rotary engine instead of normal piston engine.

"Where is he.. it's freezing in here." There was soft murmur in the gallery, and suddenly someone yelled. "He's at the bottom, coming up fast! Midnight Dragon is here!" The atmosphere electrified instantly, and Yuuka forgot his discomfort. Finally the race would begin!

Ryuu saw that there was lots of people on the edge of the road and on top of the walls, cheering at him. He felt kinda funny because of that, and annoyed. "Wait few years, please.." He muttered to himself. The road was moist here and there. He knew that these wet patches could determine the result of the race.

Nori shivered as he heard the odd sound of the engine. For a moment, he thought that it really was some mythical beast that was crawling up the mountain, hissing and snarling at him. Finally, the headlights climbed on top of the crest. There she finally was in her dark beautifulness. The engine was left idling as Ryuu opened the door and stood up, grabbing a thermos bottle and sipping hot coffee from it. Yuuka and Nori walked up to him.

Nori hardly heard what his brother and Ryuu talked. This was the beast that had chased down Ryoichi's normally aspirated, 300bhp 20B powered RX-8 with ease. For some reason, he felt that this car was looking back at him.

He jumped a little as his brother slapped him on the shoulder. "Man, you're really jumpy tonight. What is wrong with you?" Nori didn't answer. "Anyways, he'll lead the first run. Come on, let's get ready." Nori kept looking at the little Toyota. He felt it's gaze on him, it's aura. He was certain that the car was haunted somehow. And still.. He shook his head and followed his brother to their cars.

They lined up on the starting line. Ryuu noticed that Kohaku and some other members of WTCR-mag were there too, writing and taking pictures for an article. The previous numbers, especially the one with DVD about his run against Three Katanas had been practically torn from their hands. He shook his head. This run would probably sell even more magazines than that.

The countdown ended, and the cars took off. Ryuu's lighter KP60 had advantage in acceleration, but soon, the rotary brothers were right on his heels. They entered the first corner carefully because of the moistness, powering out from them bit more aggressively. Ryuu kept an eye on his mirrors, seeing that the Cheetah Brothers were still on him. He grinned and increased his speed, dashing towards the the damp, cold darkness.

Yuuka and Nori followed him tightly, copying his lines as well as the slippy surface allowed them to. Their RX-7's were light, but that Starlet did weight almost half a ton less. Nori cursed as he felt his tires slipping. "There's some leafs on the road too.. Great.. Just great!" Yuuka was struggling too. His car did it's best to use all the grip it had, but laws of physics were against the rotary rockets this time.

Ryuu felt how his car wiggled slightly every time when some of the wheels lost traction. Cold sweat was running down his back, as he urged his car to run faster. He saw the headlights behind him, about few seconds away. "Bit more.. Just a bit more.. DAMN!" He cursed as the rear tires slipped more than he had intended. Thanks to the Starlet's short wheelbase it was easy to recover from that.

"I have no choice.. Here we go!" He arrived on the longest straight of this downhill, and hit the boost scramble. The rear tires skidded a bit before the weight transferred to the rear, pressing the tyres to the cold tarmac and forcing them to grip harder. Tiny Toyota accelerated fiercely towards the end of the straight, followed by the RX-7's.

"What the..?! He wasn't that fast back then! Does he have nitrous oxide or something?" Yuuka growled, pressing the throttle harder and chasing the Starlet with all his skill, followed by Nori. _"Midnight Dragon.. That's not a car, it's a monster..!"_ Nori thought as he followed his brother closely.

Ryuu braked sharply, swinging his car into the corner aggressively. He knew that he'd lose traction sooner or later, so he decided to give up on the useless fight for traction. All he knew was that if he'd lose control now, he'd roll over again and again as he'd go hundreds of meters down the hill. Every single of his nerves and senses were out there, and he could almost feel the road before the tires did.

Nori felt that horrible chill again as it ran down his spine. For a second he thought he saw a midnight blue dragon vanishing behind the corned ahead of his brother. He blinked his eyes quickly, but the apparition was gone. "What the.. oh damn.. that's the last corner! It's up to second run now.. so.. that _thing_ will be behind us then?"

Indeed it was so. Ryuu passed the finishing point way ahead of the brothers, and stopped his car. He blinked his eyes. The last few minutes of the race had been a blur of dark scenery. The RX-7's stopped right next to him as he took the thermos bottle again. The brothers got out from their cars as well, looking at him. "It was clearly your win. Next run will start 15 minutes after you've arrived on top of the mountain."

Ryuu nodded and sipped some more coffee. He still wasn't sure what had happened. He walked to the kid who had the stopwatch, just to hear that he had reached goal almost 5 seconds before the others. Ryuu's insides jolted a bit. _"Those parts will be mine if I can keep up with these two!"_

Within thirty minutes, Ryuu was back on top of the mountain, lining his car behind two RX-7's that would be chased this time. He felt very confident about this run. He needed and deserved those parts, and somehow, he thought that his car knew it too. It had been running very smoothly, without any shudders or spikes in the engine's performance. Or then the new parts had just settled into their places and finally started working smoothly.

Ryuu noticed that Nori looked bit pale, and walked to him. "Are you ok? You look bit pale." Nori shook his head. "It's nothing. I must be tired and imagining things.. But I can drive, if that's what you're worried about." Ryuu looked at his own car.

The carbonfibre parts made it look like it would have really flexible scale-armor on it, hence the name Midnight Dragon. "She's really running well tonight. Maybe the cold air has something to do with it.. What do you think?" Nori shrugged. He glanced shortly at the car, feeling uneasy. "I guess so. Shall we get ready?" Yuuka was already sitting in his car, looking determined. Ryuu agreed and returned to his car, sitting on the bucket seat and closing the door, and started the engine.  
Nori knocked to the window of his brothers car and Yuuka lowered it. "Say what you say, but that car is a monster, and so is the driver. Can't you feel it?" Yuuka was silent. He felt something, but he thought that it was just normal pressure from the race. "It's just the tension from the race, Nori. Concentrate on your driving and don't look back." Yuuka said, closing his window. Nori nodded uncertainly and stepped into his own car. He looked at the menacing Starlet, that purred softly on idle. _"It's just a car like others.. but why do I feel intimidated?"_

The countdown reached zero again, and three cars blasted off from the starting point. Cheetah Brothers were determined to win this run, so they pressed hard into the corners, relying on their ABS to prevent spinning while braking sharply. Two rotary powered cars accelerated smoothly out from the corner, followed by small Toyota's sharp snarl.

"They're faster this time.." Ryuu muttered to himself as he saw Cheetah Brothers getting distance to him. He started to apply more throttle, feathering it as he felt the traction vanishing. Slowly but certainly he started to reel those rotary rockets in. Corner after corner they were closer.

Yuuka and Nori used different methods in the corners. Yuuka usually went out-in-out, whereas Nori did the opposite. It had been proved to be effective method against fast opponents that would otherwise try passing in the corner. Suddenly, Nori felt that cold, threatening tingle on his skin again, and he glanced the mirror. The Starlet was right on his tail.  
"What the.. when did he sneak that close?!" Nori asked from himself. He knew that this KP60 was fast on corners, but the last section had been quite straight and not so steep either. But there it was, snarling right at his heels, urging him to run faster, taking the chance of crash or worse. "He's out of his mind!" Nori had to increase his speed to avoid being tailgated. He got closer to his brother, who had also increased his speed after noticing that their opponent was right at them.

"The hairpin chicanes.. I have to attack there, because that's the last thing they'd expect." Ryuu thought. He was within meters of the Nori's car in front of him, copying it's driving lines smoothly. He grinned. "What do you say, old buddy? Few squeezes more and you'll have a brother." Ryuu floored the throttle, and pressed the boost scramble, placing his car right next to Nori's RX-7, claiming the inside line for himself.

"In a place like this?! Doesn't he remember that the hairpins are next?! " Nori yelled, then grit his teeths and tried to gain some ground from the KP60 that had stolen the driving line from him. But it was too late. Yuuka braked already in front of Nori, and Nori had to slam on the brakes. KP60 didn't have slightest intention of braking yet as it charged towards the corner.  
Yuuka saw from his mirror that Ryuu was coming in too fast for him, and he had to slow down, keeping the outside line while the Starlet used Nori's in-out-in-line, passing him with ease. Yuuka and Nori could only watch in awe as the lighter hatchback used it's advantage fully and without a flaw in the termination of this daring move. After that, the brothers had no other choice but do their best to keep up as the midnight blue Starlet cleared the hairpins without a clue of struggle.

After the race Ryuu had opened the hood of his car. The engine ticked as it cooled off slowly. Ryuu felt light-hearted. "At least I don't have to borrow you to that old pervert now.." He looked over his shoulder as he heard steps closing in. it was Yuuka. "Daring move back there, Ryuu.. and flawlessly executed one too. You did spank us almost literally.. As you must know by now, there's a reward you get from defeating a team, and it doubles up every time. So.. here you go. Use it wisely."

Yuuka gave him a bank note. Ryuu looked at it, nodding. " I will.. Is Nori okay? He was pale back then." Yuuka laughed. "Who wouldn't be after trying to run away from this little beast of yours? Keep going like that and you have to go to Gunma to find some challenge. Even though you might not go head on with Project.D, there are other teams."

Ryuu chuckled at the thought of him trying to run against Project.D's twin aces. "Fat chance.. but, I gotta go now. I have a little project going myself, and I need to kick certain pervy old man back to his garage tomorrow. Laters. " Yuuka nodded, shaking hands with him after Ryuu had closed the hood.

_Few hours later_

Ryuu was almost knocked off from his feet as overjoyed Akira leaped on him. "YAAAY! No more swaps, right?!" Ryuu laughed and nodded, showing him the bank note. "4,5 million yens waiting to transferred to my account." Akira did a small victory dance on the yard, until his dad slapped hid head once again with the hand that had the ring.

"In the morning you'll call to that dealership and book that car to us. Ryuu, you'll go to bank and transfer the money onto your account, and then come with cash to the dealership, okay?" Ryuu nodded. He saw that the custom made driveshafts were there already. "You never cease to amaze me, Mr. Hideaki. Only few hours from the race and you already have these?"

Katashi just smirked. "I have my connections to certain places.. Now, go to rest, you've deserved it. Tomorrow the brother of Midnight Dragon will fly." Ryuu didn't disagree with that, so he headed home.

In the morning, Ryuu leaped out of the bed right before the alarm went off. He quickly went through his morning rituals, eager to get on the road. Today, he'd start doing attacks on the Wangan.

He just got out from the bank as his phone rang. It was Akira. "You have to pick me up. I'll drive the car to here." Ryuu said that he'd be in front of their house in ten minutes. "What, in ten? You're not gonna break speed limits again?" Ryuu grinned. "Nah.. I'll just slip past them without breaking them." Ryuu could hear a sigh at the other end as he finished the call and jumped into his car, blasting off at high speed.

Soon Akira was aboard of the car, giving Ryuu directions where to drive. The traffic was mild so the trip didn't take too long. Ryuu drove on the backyard of the dealership, spotting many classics here and there, more or less good shape. There was even Toyota 2000GT and few European cars too.  
Then he spotted the car they were here for, a yellow KP60. Ryuu and Akira got out from his car and walked closer, looking at it more closely. The note in the windscreen said that it had been owned by single person since it was sold, and been driven under 30 k miles.

"It looks like almost factory new.. look, even the cigarette lighter is there." Akira said, pointing at it. The doors were unlocked, so they took a closer look inside. Only small scratches here and there, and worn pedals told that the car was used. At that point the salesman joined them, and Akira started long, yet skillful haggling while Ryuu did more accurate inspection. After some time, he and the salesman got into agreement about the price, and Ryuu followed them in to write the papers and pay the price.

After drinking a cup of coffee at the dealership, they went to the cars. But unexpected problem occurred.

"What do you mean it doesn't start? Haven't you driven a car that has carburettor engine before?" Ryuu asked from ashamed Akira, who just nodded. "Sheesh.. See that small lever there? That's choke. Try it and behold." Akira followed Ryuu's advice and after few tries, the car started. "Remember to push it back when the engine has warmed up." Akira nodded and waited that Ryuu sat in his car, before he drove off from the dealership.

Katashi was already waiting them outside. Akira drove the car straight to the garage, where it would be stripped to shell and re-assembled as totally new beast. It would be wider and lower than his current car, and it would also have similar underbody as he had now, and all parts that he had tried back on the Wangan run.

"You know, Mr. Hideaki, there's a small blind spot in Akira's training. He might know everything about engineering, but.. He couldn't start carburettor engined car without assistance."

Akira muttered something rude. Katashi just laughed. "Ah, right, that.. There's a simple reason for that. We haven't had carburettor engined car since early 80's, and that was way before he was born. So, all he knows is injection engines.. Well, I think he knows now how to deal with carburettor engines too.. don't you, son..?" Akira just nodded, pouting and kicking dust.

"It ain't that bad. Just study some stuff from Internet and you should be sorted out. The design isn't that complex after all." Ryuu said. "But, let's get on with the work now, shall we? Some of the parts haven't arrived yet, so let's do as much as we can while waiting." Both Hideaki's agreed about that and they went into the garage, starting to strip the car into a shell.

In the somewhat small offices of the WTCR-mag, Chief of the magazine looked closely at the pictures Kohaku had taken last night. "So.. he defeated the Cheetah Brothers as well?" The older journalist asked from Kohaku, who nodded. "It actually wasn't even a race, each time he had multiple seconds lead, even when he had the chasers role." Older man just grunted, looking at the pictures that showed how Ryuu had snatched the drivinglines from the brothers. "He outbraked them, it seems.. Well, the next challenger will put up a good fight. Unless Midnight Dragon hasn't revealed all of it's weapons yet, this will be huge event."  
Kohaku nodded, grinning and taking the pictures. "Ah, right, chief.. I have one question. If we can find room for a small leaderboard in the mag, I'd like to take care of it. It would include rumors and knowledge about newcomers in the scene, have pictures like this and such."  
Chief of the magazine laughed. " I see where you're aiming at.. I'll consider it. Now, you have a job to do, so get going and I'll see what we can do."

_Few hours later_

At Hideaki's garage, the work progressed well. Ryuu had received few calls from the shops which had been selected to deliver the parts they needed. Ryuu could almost see how the money flowed out from his hands, but he didn't care. This was his hobby, and without using money, he couldn't fulfill his dreams.. like this insane machine for Wangan. They had reinforced the chassis by welding the seams completely shut. Body panels and doors were replaced with lighter, stronger materials, and suspension was changed to modern one for adjustability.

Clock was slowly creeping towards evening, but they had already fitted the drivetrain and connected it with the engine. Battery and few other things had been relocated to the boot, and flat underbody plate with diffusers had been installed as well. Ryuu was astounded how much faster the parts had arrived when Katashi had ordered them. Obviously the old man still had some respect around the scene.

Hours rolled by as they kept tinkering on the car. Ryuu went to pick up parts from the shops every now and then. There were few minor changes, like getting separate oilcoolers for the differentials and gearbox. Rollcage was installed too, with some other safety measures. Ryuu wasn't happy about the weight, but he knew that it would probably save his life if there would be a high speed crash.

Suddenly they heard a screech of tires from the yard. Ryuu looked up and saw that Akane had came in for a visit.

"Hey there! Still tinkering with the new car, eh?" Ryuu grinned, but didn't hug her since he was covered in oil. " Yeah, he's almost ready to hit the road. After finishing up with few things we'll take it to the Wangan for test. Luckily, Pink is out of the game as far as I know, so there shouldn't be any trouble." Akane giggled and looked at the Midnight Dragon's brother. "He does look quick.. but, as much as I'd like to stay and help, I have to go. My sisters cars have been repaired finally, and we got few challengers to deal with. I'll see ya later.. stud.." She said with a wink before returning to her NSX and driving away.

" 'Stud', eh..? What have you done with that girl, boy?" Katashi asked, smirking at Ryuu's embarrasment. "That's none of your business, old man. Now get back to work.." Ryuu mumbled, reaching deep inside the engine bay to hide his blushed cheeks. Older Hideaki just cackled and straightened his glasses.

As they had tightened the last bolts and adjusted the suspension, Ryuu noticed that they still had some time to spend. "Hmm.. I wonder if the bodyshop is still open. This thing needs to be painted."

Quick call to Arata confirmed his plans, and he hopped into the car. "We have time and money to get this thing painted before the run. And don't worry about the paint, it'll dry in few hours. New special paint he got earlier this week.." Rest of his words were drowned into the throaty growl of highly tuned twin turbo-rotary as he drove off.

Officially, the paint/body shop was already closed, but Arata was willing to do an exception for Ryuu. They quickly prepared the car for the paint, covering the glasses, lights and tires, and removing the parts that didn't need paint. "Hmm.. Let's make this red-to-black, shall we? " Arata nodded and went to mix the paint, while Ryuu finished the preparations. Arata returned with the paint and started spraying it. Ryuu went outside, since the fumes from the paint were slightly hazardous and he didn't have a mask.

The paint dried in record time, and soon they had attached the parts that were taken off. Ryuu looked at the car for a second. It looked just as fierce as it was. Red-to-black complimented the body nicely, and added quite a lot menacing feel into the cars looks. Ryuu walked to Arata, and shook his hand. "I'll come over tomorrow and pay full price, Arata-san."  
Arata nodded and patted his shoulder. "Get going, you got new road to conquer." Ryuu grinned, jumping into his car and drove off.

He returned to Hideaki's to pick up Akira and the laptop. "Wangan, here we come! Oh, and I filled him up with high octane, so it'll be 920whp this time." Akira grinned and put on his seatbelts. Then the horrible realization struck him. "You mean we're already on high boo-YAAAAAAAAAHH!!!" There was no burnout, just small chirp from the tyres and tremendous grip as the ATTESA-ETS PRO distributed the power to the wheels, creating huge weight from the acceleration that pressed them against the bucket seats as Ryuu lifted the clutch.

Ryuu drove somewhat calmly around the town for a while so Akira could calibrate the programs on the laptop. "Those turbocharger vanes are now linked to the throttle like you asked back then. And after we've finished with the electronics and installing the circuits etc, you'll be able to control the engine and drivetrain as you wish from your seat."  
Ryuu nodded. This car wouldn't need to be ashamed when running head to head with the likes of R34 GT-R or 4th gen Supra. He could challenge more sleeker and fast cars like NSX in terms of speed and handling. Finally Akira said that the programs had finished their calibrating themselves and the real test could begin.

They arrived on the nearly empty highway. Ryuu just grinned and floored the throttle, tossing in bigger gears as the shift-light flashed accompanied by warning buzz. He could tell the difference to the previous runs already. The car was more stabile as the speed kept rising, and even the corners were cleared without any drama. The scenery flashed by, bit like if they'd be riding on Shinkanzen-train. Ryuu concentrated fully on driving, trying to feel and listen for every slightest hint of trouble or mechanical failure. But there wasn't any clue of those, as the rotary powered hatchback roared forwards.

Ryuu knew that long straight would be next. "I'm going to try the high boost.. It's quite possible that we'll hit top speed this time!" Akira looked nervous, but nodded anyways. They cleared the corner and Ryuu shifted to sixth gear, pressing the boost scramble button. "210.. 215.. 225.. 230.. 235.." Akira kept reading the numbers as they passed the supercar ground and entered the realm of hypercars like Bugatti Veyron, Koenigsegg CCX and McLaren F1. "..240.. 245.. **250**! No.. **_255 MPH!_**" The car shook and howled like tortured soul in hell. Carefully Ryuu slowed down, easing off the throttle gently. He was sweating and panting. He had felt how the car had squirmed underneath him as it fought against the forces of drag and downforce, not to mention acceleration that had tried to lift the nose up. "255mph..? That's enough for me.. But add one thing to the 'To do'-list.. Active aerodynamics. The nose almost lifted to air.." Ryuu said. Akira looked pale as he realized how close of losing control they had been. They had passed some other cars that had been doing more than 150 in a flash. Ryuu knew that there would be some new rumors going around again. He glanced at the meters and noticed that the top speed run had made the Midnight Dragon's brother thirsty. "I think that we pull over at the next fuel station. We need to fill him up. And I'm pretty willing to believe that tires didn't like the stress either." Akira nodded, picking up the phone and called to Katashi, telling him the results.

As they were refuelling the red-to-black beast, three cars drove to the gas station, and parked near Ryuu and his car. They were obviously Wangan racers, since their bodykits actually seemed to be functional. Ryuu looked at the matte black GTO, that seemed to belong to the leader. Something in it caught his attention. Maybe this was a Wangan team?

The owner of the Mitsubishi GTO stepped out from his car. "Yo.. That was quite a pass back there. Midnight Dragon, right..? My name is Masami, and this is my team." Ryuu nodded and introduced himself.

"This is actually Midnight Dragons evil twin.. The original beast prefers the Touge more, so I adopted this one after claiming spot number 4. This guy here is Akira, my assisting mechanic. We're just testing the new mods."

Masami nodded. "KP60, huh? Nice to see that these old beauties are still running fast. How fast you were doing back there? We were accelerating around 180 when you passed us." Ryuu laughed. "Well, you won't see that speed again very soon unless you'll race against Veyron.. We were doing 255mph when we passed you. The tires didn't like it at all." Masami and his team looked positively shocked.

"255 miles per hour.. in a Starlet? " Masami looked doubtful. Ryuu gestured him closer and opened the hood. "That's 920 horsepowers at wheels, in a car that weights about third as much as yours. Add modified ATTESA ETS-PRO in to the mixture and there's very few cars in the world that can keep up on high boost, be it on corners or straights." Masami almost drooled. "VGT's.. on 20B.. and it's tuned by RE Amemiya? Wow, those must have cost a fortune.. What a beast.. but.. the tires?" Ryuu and Masami went to the side of the car. The tires were quite sad sight. They had melted slightly from the friction. "they're good to 230mph, but after that they give up rather quickly. I need to find better tires, or ask custom tires from Michelin or such.. if I win in the lottery." Masami laughed at that.

After finishing the refuelling, they talked bit longer. "So you're gonna attack Wangan soon? Cool.. But mark my words; there are insanely fast rides out there. Pink and the likes are insignificant amateurs when compared to them. You might be able to challenge them after getting proper tires ,but until that, you have to start from the bottom." Ryuu nodded, agreeing with him.

After that Masami and his gang drove off, leaving Akira and Ryuu alone. They decided to have some snack before heading back to the Hideaki's to finish the work.

"So, what do you think, Akira? Do I have a chance against the Wangan specialists?" Akira thought of this while munching his meatpie. "I believe so, at least when you finally have gotten used to these speeds and traffic etc.." Ryuu nodded. Quite soon after that short discussion they were back on the road, heading home.

**Next chapter is dedicated to Katashi Hideaki's evening adventure. But what kind of car he has? That'll be revealed in the next chapter, when certain arrogant punk who drives a certain yellow FD RX-7 notices that he never should underestimate slow old man in slow, old car.**


	8. Chapter 7½

**Chapter 7.5: Road-Shredding, Unborn Monster from the past!**

Katashi was bored. Now that Midnight Dragon and it's brother were somewhat complete, all he would need to do was advising them on setups and giving occasional hints about improving driving technique. Their enthusiasm and success had ignited his racing spirit as well, and he was very proud of his son and this young, promising street racer called Ryuu Masaru. Fiddling around with race spec parts and engines had brought back old memories from the mid 80's, when he had been a test driver in certain ambitious project of a major Japanese manufacturer.  
He still remembered when he had seen the matte black prototype for the first time.

His skin had goosebumps all over it, even though it had been quite hot midsummer morning as the mechanics had pushed the wedge-looking, small prototype out from the hall where it had been finished. Flip-up headlights had been replaced with solid ones that were protected by plexi-glass. There were so many air scoops and vents all over the car that he had difficulties to guess if the engine still were there where it was in the road-going model.  
"Oh.. my oh my.. I think I've fallen in love with this beast. How hard does she kick?" Katashi had asked from the chief of the development team. "It depends of the turbo. The base engine couldn't handle the power, so we ditched the 4A-GE-series engine in favor of more reliable 4T-GT. Though, we made one with 503E, just to see what the drivetrain could take. Anyways, this beauty delivers 600-1000+AWHP. That should be enough to squash the opponents." Chief had explained, chuckling at the shocked look on Katashi's face.

"That much power.. You said it's AWD? How did you do that? Have you put the engine in the front then?" Katashi had asked. Chief just opened the hood. Underneath it was just an airduct and steering system, adjustable anti-roll bar and battery and such. "Still mid-engined, eh? Nice. Mid-engined AWD.. That's relatively new idea, but this monster takes the idea into whole new level."  
Chief had looked at Katashi. "Indeed.. but can you handle it? Remember what happened to the Lancia recently."  
Of course Katashi remembered. He had seen the footage where the remains of the Toivonen's Lancia Delta S4's had been lifted up from the canyon. Only the tubeframe and roll cage were recognizable, the rest of the car had been burnt into ashes. Only few scorched bones were left of the Finnish daredevil and his co-driver.. "Yes, I do remember that all too well. I know my limits, and we don't have to worry about the championship yet. Thus, I can concentrate on driving and analyzing this cars behavior. What are her specifications right now?"

Chief asked one of the engineers to bring him the spec sheet. "Hmh.. At the moment she's developing approximately 600bhp. As soon as you get used to that, we'll bump the power up until you're ready to drive "the Behemot", as we call the 503E-powered model. But, there has been rumors that if group B gets canceled, this project will live on in hill climb races or such." Katashi nodded, opening the door and sitting into the car, looking around. "So many switches.. Is this a car or a flying saucer? I don't have my pilot's license with me right now.." Chief laughed.  
The test drives back then had been succesful. Group B had been canceled, but as the chief of the development team had predicted, the project kept going on. Finally, as stricter rules and new competitors entered, the project had been called off by the chief of TRD, and the cars were sold. Two of them were wrecked, but 503E-powered beast was still up and running. In fact, Katashi was just fingering it's keys.

"Hm.. Maybe I should give her a spin for good old times." He grinned and walked out of the house and into small shack. He opened the doors and removed the covers from the car, and felt how his skin quickly got goosebumps all over his body as he saw the ultimate race-bred Toyota. He dressed into his old racing suit after checking the car quickly. He pushed it out and made sure that the tire pressure was right, proceeding these check-ups until he was sure the car was ready for drive. "Heh.. As good as new.. Let's see if you're as reliable as your road-going little sisters."

Katashi sat into the tight bucket seat, and fastened the 5-point seatbelt, tightening them well. Then, he pressed the clutch and turned the key. Soft whirr of starter engine was suddenly drowned by sharp bark of race-bred exhaust. Backfire shot out every time as he blipped the throttle. Katashi kept his eyes on the gauges, listening the sound of the engine. He touched the brakes just to see if the brakefluid was up to the task. No softness there either. _"This, my son, is pure-bred racecar for any kind of surface, for any kind of weather.. Even though it features older technique than your friends hybrid KP60, I'll beat it with ease." _Katashi pressed the throttle and lifted the clutch. The car shuddered and wheels spun with ease on the grass as it started to roll towards the road. Race spec clutch was meant to deliver 1000bhp+ to the wheels, and slow speeds were troublesome for it and the engine that delivered it's power on higher revs, much like Ryuu's 20B. As soon as there was tarmac under the wheels, Katashi floored the throttle. Turbo was rather slow on pick-up but when it began to deliver boost, lights were suddenly blurring in his eyes. "Time to hide, kids.. Ultimate street weapon is back!" Takashi yelled over the whine of the turbo and gearbox. Tonight, many young racers would meet the car of dreams and nightmares. TRD MR2 MK1 Group B/S know as Kuro-Ken/Black Blade was hunting again.

He drove around the city until he found bunch of kids in their typical ricer machines. Chrome rims, non functional bodykits, stereos and all. They were doing drag-races in a deserted road that led to the old mines near the city. He joined the queue, and next to him pulled more than typical ricer. Stereos blaring, chrome rims with spinners, wing, stickers, ground-hugging bodykit... all this in boxy, yet modern Nissan. Katashi shook his head. _"Kids these days.. Oy vey.. They watch one movie and they thing that their car is fastest thing on road."_  
Obviously the kid noticed his headshake, since he started yelling something at him over the horrible techno-blast-music-thingie, making rude gestures at him. They arrived at the starting point, and prepared for the launch. As the count started, Katashi calmly showed the kid some midfinger, just to make sure that his opponent wouldn't get good launch accidentally. Count stopped, and the cars blasted off the line. Or at least Katashi did, whereas the ricerkid stayed there doing a massive burnout after forgetting his e-brake on while the matte-black MR2 vanished to the night.

Street racing was too easy with this machine, so Katashi headed up to the mountains. Maybe Touge battle would be more challenging to him. It was also closer to rallying which was the original purpose of this car. He drove up to the pylon's parking lot, and as usual, there were bunch of kids and few older men. He passed two parked RX-7's, FC and FD, both with Redsuns stickers on their sides. The FC looked pretty much stock, but the lowered ride height and changes in the camber were visible, telling Katashi that it was actually quite fast car. Then there was yellow FD, that looked more like racecar. Katashi recognized Mr Amemiya's design quickly, and somehow he knew that this car could be rather interesting opponent, if he could lure the driver into a race. He stopped his car, unbuckled the belts and got out of the car, stretching. Bucket seats were not designed for longer distances.  
Katashi walked around, until he noticed the vans with Project.D stickers._ "Hm.. So this is the legendary Project.D that Kohaku keeps speaking of.. Support vans? They're more like professionals than kids who fool around in mountain passes.." _Finally he noticed faces that were familiar from WTCR-Magazine. Ryosuke and Keisuke Takahashi were nearby, talking with younger kid that was sitting on the hood of hachiroku. _"That must be Takumi Fujiwara_,_ Bunta's son.. That old scoundrel didn't tell me that his kid is driving that old 86 now."_ Katashi grinned. He could sense that these weren't lousy drivers. Takahashi brothers and Fujiwara noticed him and came to him.

"Is there something wrong, Mr..?" Ryosuke asked politely. "Oh, nothing.. Just admiring your well organized team, that's all. My name is Katashi Hideaki. You must be Ryosuke Takahashi?" Ryosuke nodded. "And these are our twin aces, my brother Keisuke and Takumi Fujiwara." Katashi nodded to each of them, before asking. "Am I wrong if I say that you're here for top five teams of this area?"  
Ryosuke nodded slightly. "That is correct. Were here scouting and training before we challenge those teams. Why do you ask?" Katashi looked at their cars. "You've heard of Midnight Dragon..?" Ryosuke nodded. He indeed had heard of this new, impressive challenger that slowly but certainly was working his way towards the top position among mountain pass racers. "I've heard of him. He uses old yet quick Toyota Starlet KP60. He shall be interesting opponent to Takumi, who is doing our downhill races." Katashi nodded, before adding. " He'll be able to tackle that FD in uphill as well."

"Nonsense!" Keisuke snorted. "How could such old piece of junk compete with my twin turbo FD in uphill?" Ryosuke looked slightly amused, and Takumi coughed smugly. Keisuke started to mock-pout. "You don't need to rub that in.. Okay, let's assume that he is as competitive as you say. Why is that so?"  
Katashi chuckled. "First, his car is lighter than your precious RE AMEMIYA-kitted twin turbo FD. In fact, it's lighter than Takumi's 86. Secondly, it's smaller than Takumi's 86. Third reason is that his car is more nimble than Takumi's 86, thanks to shorter wheelbase.. Fourth, he has better P/W-ratio than you do." Ryosuke looked interested, whereas Keisuke looked insulted and Takumi.. Well, he was staring blankly.

"Is that so? Interesting.. I wonder what kind of engine he has." Ryosuke pondered. Keisuke cut in. "Say, is it true that he uses rotary engine in Wangan?" Hideaki smirked. " Indeed it is, since I ordered, assembled and helped to install that engine to the twin brother of Midnight Dragon. But that beast would simply destroy yours if you'd challenge him on Wangan. You might have better chance on Touge.. yet, his highly modified 4A-GE will make that very challenging too. But, I shall not reveal more of his car now.. unless.. you race against me on uphill, Keisuke."  
Ryosuke looked at the old man, then at the car. His eyes narrowed slightly as the matte black car awakened some memories in his head. Before he could prevent it, Keisuke agreed. "I'll race you, old man. It won't be first time when I race old man in uphill. I did beat Hoshino Kouzou fair and square on his home course." This fact did impress Katashi. Beating a GT-R that was driven by God Foot.. That was indeed something that was almost impossible even for professional drivers. "That's impressive, kid.. But you won't beat me that easily.. Not with that feeble FD of yours at least." At this point, Keisuke was ready to sink his fists into the belly of the old, arrogant man. Ryosuke pulled him further.

"Keisuke, I'm afraid that he's right. This is a battle that you can not win. Look at his car.. Don't you recognize it? It might have been first generation MR2, but look at it now.. And think of all matte black prototype cars you've seen in the past. " Keisuke frowned as he thought harder. Then, suddenly he remembered. "Is that one of those three TRD MR2's that were designed for rally?" Ryosuke nodded. "Two other models were destroyed. They were powered by 4T-GT, but this is the last one.. And if I recall right, it's powered by nothing else but 503E-engine, that was designed for hill climbs, endurance races, JGTC and such. "Usually" it produces around 600bhp, but in this car it develops 1000AWHP.. which equals around 1200bhp from the crank. And this old man knows every single thing from this car, since he was the one who was chosen to be the test driver." Keisuke couldn't get a word out of his mouth. No wonder that the old man took him as lightly as he had taken Takumi's 86 back then. They returned to Hideaki.

"I don't see the point of this race, Mr. Hideaki. As far as I can tell, that monster of a car has no weaknesses, and you know the car as well as you know these roads. So it would be no-win situation." Hideaki smiled, nodding. "Actually there is few weaknesses, that doesn't bother modern cars anymore. This car has plenty of power, but it comes with a price called Turbo Lag.. Misfiring systems weren't available yet when this baby was built. And naturally, the AWD system isn't as sophisticated as the current ones."  
Ryosuke nodded. Those 'weaknesses' weren't a surprise to him. As he considered things more, he started to see a slight glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel. Maybe, just maybe Keisuke could win, or atleast keep up with the ex-professional. He chuckled. Keisuke would get familiar with Takumi's usual position in races like this, and maybe his hotheaded brother would learn thing or two while chasing this old man.

"Alright, Keisuke.. You may race. Keep close eye on him, there's much things that you can learn from Mr. Hideaki's driving.. If you can keep up with him that is." Keisuke lifted his chin proudly, looking at Katashi. " I won't disappoint either of you. Even though this is unofficial race, I'll do my best." Katashi grinned, shaking hands with young rotary driver, before walking to his car.  
Monstrous MR2 awakened again. Black prototypes sharp BRAP-BRAP-BRAP idle was joined my smooth snarl of a Wankel as Keisuke started his car. Katashi drove off from the top of the mountain, followed by Keisuke's yellow FD. Even Takumi was intimidated by the mere sound of that matte black, wedge-looking beast as it drove away. "He's one hell of a driver, I can tell it. And the way he controls a car with that much power.. Even my dad would think him as slightly challenging opponent." Ryosuke nodded again. "Maybe.. but I believe that all that power will actually slow him down, despite AWD." Takumi just shrugged. He knew that if it would be downhill, he could possibly beat that old man with his natural skills, despite having less than quarter of the power what that particular MR2 had.

Soon they were at the bottom of the mountain pass, and turned around, lining up side by side. Katashi lifted his hand, spreading his fingers. Keisuke notted, and Katashi started to count down. Both cars revved their engines, building boost until the count reached zero, and both cars blasted off. Keisuke realized immediately that the old man was playing with him, letting him keep up. "You'll regret that, old man.."

Katashi just grinned as he saw the RE-Amemiya-kitted RX-7 closing in. He applied more throttle, matching speed and acceleration with the younger mans coupe. "Not so fast, kid, I don't want to freak you out yet.. Show me what you can do."

Two cars roared uphill, clearing corners with such ease that it looked natural. Keisuke held his breath as he saw how easily Katashi performed smooth, balanced AWD drifts, feathering the throttle instead of flooring it. "Wow.. That old fart knows how to drive. He exceeds God Foot's skills and makes it look easy.." He grit his teeths, and as an FR driver, he started drifting as well, sliding his cars within inches of the matte-black beast.  
"Oh, now you're starting to amuse me, Mr. Takahashi.." Katashi muttered as he saw the sleek yellow coupe copying his lines. "Let's see how you can deal with some pressure." Hideaki did small mistake on purpose, leaving an open line for the young, hotheaded racer. Keisuke didn't even think before going for it, slipping past the black prototype greedily.

"Ha! You're not getting in front of me anymore, old man!" Keisuke yelled, before he noticed that the MR2 had recovered from the error surprisingly quickly. It was actually so close that he couldn't see much else than the roof of the small, mid-engined rallycar as it chased him mercilessly. Keisuke started pulling off daring stunts, doing his best to shake the menacing, wedge-shaped beast of a car off his tail. Keisuke felt how sweat started to run down his back. He didn't need to watch mirrors to know that Katashi was right on his tail. He could feel the pressure pounding his back painfully hard. He had never before experienced such sensation. "F-fast..! I can't shake him off!"

Katashi smirked evilly as he followed his squirming prey like shark that has found a wounded swimmer. "You're good, I admit that, kid.. But, let's go up a notch, shall we?" They just entered a tight hairpin. Katashi's car was in dead spot of Keisuke's vision, and right on that moment, katashi turned off his headlights.  
Keisuke's eyes widened from the shock as he couldn't see the lights of his chaser anymore. But he knew that Katashi was still there. He could hear the engine and felt the pressure from behind harder than ever. "N-no way! I thought that only Fujiwara's crazy enough to pull off a trick like that!" Keisuke yelled, adding his speed as much as he dared. Roars of the engine, chattering of the BOV's and backfires echoed from the walls of the mountain, as Keisuke did his best to pull away from his invisible chaser. Keisuke felt like throwing up, and at the same time, he thought that his blood was freezing.

"Oh.. There was a small mistake.. mmm.. almost.. yes, second.. He'll crash soon if I won't pass him," Katashi counted. He decided to take over after fifth. Finally, Keisuke's car started to go wide in a corner as his tyres started to give in under the abuse.  
"Damn.. Where is he? My tires aren't gripping anymore..!" Keisuke thought as he felt his car slipping un-intentionally towards outside of the road. That was all what Katashi needed. MR2 stole the inner line, accelerating hard while using the advantage of the AWD grip. "Here we go, lad.. It was nice to fool around with you, but I have some stuff to tell to your brother. See ya!" Katashi waved from the window to the young streetracer, turning on his lights as he reclaimed the lead and started to increase the distance swiftly.

Katashi was already talking with Ryosuke and Takumi as Keisuke arrived. He stopped his car, slowly climbing out from the car, wiping off his sweat. Kenta brought him a bottle of water, which Keisuke gratefully took from him. "Only two persons have defeated me this well in the past.. and they're standing in front of you. That was some crazy driving down there." Ryosuke smiled. He hadn't expected any less from Hideaki "The Surgeon" Katashi.  
"He even pulled off similar blind attack that Takumi uses with ease. Now I know how your opponents feel when you do it, Fujiwara." Shiver ran thru young man's body. Takumi looked puzzled. "Was it really that horrifying? I didn't know that." Keisuke shook his head. "I've never been that horrified in my life. I started pushing it, trying to run away from that roar and pressure. I forgot everything about throttle control, and my tyres couldn't take the stress. That's all what he needed to pass me and leave me biting his dust."

Katashi chuckled. "I hope you respect older drivers bit more now, young man. I could had toyed with you bit more, but then I decided to be a good contestant and.." Keisuke mock-pouted. "I got it already! You don't need to rub it in. Sheesh..!" Katashi laughed and patted his shoulder. "Don't take it personally. I just demonstrated you what YOU can possibly do when you reach professional level. Anyway, I promised you some information about Ryuu's car."  
Before Katashi could start, Ryosuke asked. "Why are you doing this? He's your son's friend, isn't he?" Katashi nodded and thought for a while. "He has been advancing too quickly. He has got talents, but they won't be enough unless he needs to pull them all out every now and then. This far he has won because no-one has been able to beat his power to weight ratio. His cars weights about 700+kg with full tank, and his twincharged engine produces over 300 bhp with boost scramble."

Keisuke frowned. "Twincharged? Isn't that same as twin turbo?"

Ryosuke shook his head. "Twincharging means that the engine has both super- and turbocharger. Supercharger provides power and torque on low revs, and improves the engine response, and turbocharger takes over at mid-range. This gives the engine excellent response and smooth power delivery at all revs." Keisuke looked bit astonished, where as Takumi stared blankly ahead, looking puzzled. Takumi didn't need to know his enemy's car or personality to beat him or her.  
"That is true, young man. It has the best sides of both forced induction systems, and none of the drawbacks. Volkswagens new TSI-system applies same principle into their small, 1.4l engine, and even in stock form, it produces 1.8 bar of boost and more than 170bhp while it still achieves good mpg. It's just more sophisticated than Ryuu's setup. He recently did change his setup a bit, installing an electric engine that delivers the power to the supercharger, and thus he avoids power losses that are usually associated with belt-driven superchargers." Katashi explained to the Takahashi brothers. Ryosuke was already thinking of possible tactics against this young Touge specialist, who now seemed to be almost as monstrous opponent as this old man in his TRD MR2.

"I see.. So he has aimed to the ultimate handling and instant power, and PWR-wise he has achieved it too. What about suspension? If I don't recall wrong, it had solid rear-axle?" Ryosuke asked from the old rally driver.  
"He has replaced it entirely. He did it before the engine, actually. It's just as adjustable as JGTC-machines suspension, and the rear axle was taken from relatively new RWD car, and it has race-spec differential. Sometimes he comes up with pretty wild ideas that usually work. I wonder what kind of setup he'll create for rainy day."

Ryosuke started to look worried. Then Keisuke asked:

"What about his Wangan setup? What kind of performance it delivers?" Katashi twitched visibly. He didn't want to remember that. "It's actually fast enough to beat my Kuro-Ken, despite having less power, torque and worse aerodynamic shape.. That 20B is boosted up via twin VGT's, giving it tremendous responsiveness and torque no matter what the revs are. The engine is ported as well, and with high-octane fuel were speaking of power that exceeds 900AWHP."  
Ryosuke blinked. "AWHP? So he has converted it from RWD to AWD to cope with all that power. What drivetrain does he use?" Katashi sighed. "ATTESA-ETS PRO from crashed R34 VSII Nur. Custom-made driveshafts etc.. which answers to the question about his top speed handling. He did hit 255mph briefly with Boost Scramble. He had to slow down since the nose started to lift and tires did start melting." Ryosuke, Keisuke and even Takumi was shocked.

"Now, that is all I can tell. I wish you good luck.. You're going to need it. Laters."

He waved at them, climbed into his car and drove away, leaving confused Project.D crew behind.

Katashi drove back to town. He glanced at the fuel gauge, realizing that he didn't have much fuel left. "Oy vey.. I have to fill you up again, Kuro-Ken? You're about as thirsty as I am.." Old man laughed, heading to gas station.

After filling up the tank, older Hideaki decided to make small tour past the few love hotels, just for fun. Soon his car was slowly cruising along the road, and Katashi just smiled widely after rolling down his window. Girls, more girls and some more girls, in all kinds of costumes that didn't leave much for imagination. He sighed, hoping that he would be couple decades younger.  
After few more passes, he pulled over and walked into a slightly questionable looking bar, that had poledancers and bunnygirls and plenty of other kinds of adult-oriented entertainment. It had been a while since he had been there last time, but when certain bunnygirl approached him with a smile, he knew that they hadn't forgotten him yet.

"Ahh.. I must have died and ended up into seventh heaven, that's made of lace, PVC and such.. Oh my.."

And at this point we pull curtains down, dear readers. The rest is up to your imagination. ;)

_**In the 8th chapter, Ryuu starts to search the next team. If he finds them and they accept his challenge, he'll be competing of the third position among the region's Touge racers. Akane returns into the story as well with her sisters, and they're faster than ever, as current team number 5, Cheetah Brothers will notice soon.**_


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: 8000RPM Samurai's have returned!**

Ryuu looked at the engine of his car. He had swapped the old supercharger to new screw-charger, that got it's power from electric motor instead of the actual engine of the car. Improvements had been easily felt through the rev range, now that superchargers pulley wasn't draining power from the engine. Ryuu smiled and shook his head. He could only wonder what Akira would come up next in order to pull more power out from the already powerful 20-valve engine. He still had some money left from his last victory, and he was wondering if there would be something else he could do to this beast of a car. "Hmh.. time to call Akira and his crazy old man."

After the call Ryuu decided to go for a little trip to the mountain passes. He didn't go there so often at bright daylight, since there was more traffic. He drove slowly, paying attention to scenery and other road users. Occasionally, when he spotted empty road ahead, he floored it, grinning as he felt the instant surge of power that pressed his back to the seat. He cruised along the roads, just driving, letting the rhythm of the corners and hairpins become his rhythm.  
He drove a while like this, before pulling over on a small resting site. He took a folded beach chair from the car, set it up and relaxed, watching how the clouds chased each others on the sky. He actually dozed off for a while, until he did wake up into a feeling that he was being watched.

He opened his eyes and noticed that someone had stopped his car next to his. He hadn't heard it's arrival. The driver of the car had got out, and was looking at his Starlet. He coughed politely, causing the young man straighten up. "Ahem.. do you like of the view?"  
Driver of the another car stuttered apologizes. "Oh. S-sorry about that. Are you possibly Ryuu Masaru, the owner and driver of this car?" He asked from Ryuu, who stretched and got up from the chair. "It depends of who's asking him.. Though, your car speaks for you. You're Takumi Fujiwara from Project.D, are you not?" Ryuu said, nodding towards the famous panda Trueno. Takumi nodded silently. He was slowly getting used to the fact that he was well known around the neighboring regions.

"Ok.. So, how come you're here? Aren't you guys still searching challenges among the Purple Shadows?" Takumi looked puzzled, then shook his head. "No, according to Ryosuke we've beaten all teams in that area. We're scouting this area now. Last night, strange old man in powerful, black MR2 came in and offered us advices how to compete against you, after beating Keisuke in uphill with ease."  
Ryuu covered his shock. Katashi had visited the Project-D and given them advices how to beat him? "I see.. I think I know that old man.. Wasn't he bit egoistic, annoying know-it-all-type?" Takumi nodded, smiling a bit. The guy had been quite much like his old man. "That's the guy. You know him?" Ryuu sighed. "Well, he has helped me a lot while I was building this car." Ryuu said, walking to his car and opened the hood. "Does it look familiar, Fujiwara?"

Takumi walked to Ryuu, looking at the engine bay. "Oh..? It's quite much similar to mine, yet so different." Takumi pointed at the super- and turbochargers, and both manifolds. Ryuu knew that Takumi had high-revving engine, and that combined with light AE86 chassis was quite intimidating combination. "You know, you're going to race me sooner or later. I know that you guys are incredible, and now that Katashi has been talking to you, it's going to be a really tight for both of us. Though, I'm not concerned of Keisuke's FD, but you.. You will be the tougher one.""So.. I ask you this one thing: When the time comes, go all out against me. I don't care about winning or losing." Takumi nodded. "I will do that anyways. Only one person has beaten me this far, and that's how it'll stay if it's up to me." Ryuu lifted his eyebrow. "You were beaten once? By whom?" Takumi looked away, muttering. "Some shitty old man in Impreza.. But, I have to go now. Ryosuke-san is waiting me back." Takumi said, walking into his car and driving away. Ryuu looked after him. _"Huh.. Did I hit a nerve or something?" _Ryuu wondered as the Trueno vanished from his sight. He closed the hood, sighing.

He stayed there for a while, wondering about this weird meeting with Takumi. He folded the seat, putting it into the car, before starting the engine and leaving the resting site at high speed. He was confused, and he didn't like it. He managed to scare more than few other drivers as he headed back to home.

His phone rang just as he was eating. It was Akane.

"Hi there, Ryuu-kun. I just wanted to tell you that my sisters cars have been repaired finally. We've already challenged Cheetah Brothers and the race is early tonight. Can you come up there and cheer to me?" Ryuu mumbled something, his mouth still full of food. He heard Akane giggling at him as he swallowed and took a sip, before giving a clear answer. They chatted about this and that, before Akane let him finish his meal.

After washing the dishes, he walked out. For a while he watched at the drifting clouds, before walking into his garage, that now had two almost identical KP60 Starlets. He walked to the red one, opening the door and squirming into the tight bucket seat, strapping himself into it. Then he turned the ignition on, adjusting the ECU to low boost. After that he started the engine, and drove out from the garage, and straight on the road, tires chirping as he floored the throttle, heading to the Hideaki's. He wanted to know what Katashi had been thinking.

Katashi was sitting on a bench outside his house, reading a magazine as Ryuu arrived. He glanced up, blowing smoke from his nose as he saw Ryuu's expression. Ryuu got out from his car, walking straight at Katashi. Just as Ryuu was going to explode right on the face of the old man, Katashi just looked at him steadily. Ryuu opened his mouth, stuttered and shut it. He tried again.. and again, before sighing and sitting down and looking at Katashi apologetically. "I guess you had your reasons.. if you care to tell me what they are, I'll try to understand." Katashi smirked, blowing a smoke ring into his face and finishing the article he was reading.  
"Indeed, I do have my reasons. You, kid, are too good. You've achieved amazing victories against cars that have more power, better aerodynamics and drivers that have been racing on those passes for most of their lives. You've gained too many easy victories in a short period of time, and it has made you cocky. And that is the most difficult opponent to beat. You have three more teams to defeat, and then you're the local Touge-king, until someone faster comes up." Ryuu shook his head, sighing. He felt that Katashi was right.

"Some of the races have been easy lately.." Ryuu admitted. "Either the top teams have felt their position so secure that they didn't expect someone to challenge them and.. or then I'm just surpassing their skills.. or cars. The last one was more difficult due the moist weather. But why did you talk to Takahashi Brothers?" Ryuu asked, looking at the retired professional, who kept blowing rings of smoke.  
"Because when you reach the top spot, Project.D will challenge you anyways. I gave them enough knowledge to make the race interesting, no more, no less." Katashi said.

"They know the power figures, and I also hinted about the weight. That Ryosuke-guy looked clever, so I'm pretty certain he'll come up with something smart to make you sweat. Win or lose, that matters not.. but what you learn from either situation might solve some problems in your future quite nicely, young man. After all, this brings you closer to your dream." Old man reminded him.  
Ryuu nodded. "Err.. Oh, yeah, I had something else to tell as well. The new screw-charger system works without a flaw. Just minor adjustments were needed to remove the on/off style behavior.. Ah, right.. Where's Akira? Last time I talked him he was mumbling something about walking in the city searching of something to work on."

Katashi grinned. "You've been a bad example to him.. or should I say good? He's going through second hand car shops. He's planning to build himself a car." Ryuu snorted. "So that's what he's up to.. I wonder what kind of car he's going to buy?"  
Katashi shrugged. "He was talking something about a sleepers and wagons. I guess he's going to find a some old van for mobile loveshack... Well, at least I'd get one for that reason only." old man said with straight face.

Ryuu laughed. "I'm sorry, but I can tell that he hasn't inherited your pervy mind.. And if he has, he's hiding it well.. Oh?" Ryuu looked over his shoulder as he heard slightly familiar engine sound. It was definitely a stock engine, and the car.. "Isn't that Akira.. driving that..? No way.. isn't that TE51 Corolla Levin from late 70's?" Ryuu asked as Katashi jumped up, tossing the magazine away. "God damn it son, I knew you wouldn't buy a pussywagon!" Old man ran to the car, opening the door and pulling his embarrassed son into a hug. "Agh! Dad! Not in the public place!"  
Ryuu walked to the old classic. He looked it's round shapes and smooth paint. "It must have cost a lot.. it's in perfect condition." Akira had managed to struggle out from his father bearhug, and Katashi used the chance immediately, sitting on the drivers seat. "Ahh.. this brings back memories.. You know, I actually made your mom pregnant in a car like this, son."

Ryuu laughed at his friends face, that was almost as blazing red as the cars paint.

They left Akira's father in the car. "Man, I never thought that you liked classics. I thought you'd get an MX-5 instead. What are you going to do to it?" Ryuu bombed his friend with questions.  
"Well, I was considering a Capucchino with some wild engine, like R26B.. but I realised that I couldn't drive such monster before I've had something to practice with.. So I bought this instead. It has 2T-G twincam with dual carbs, and factory rated it at 124bhp, which is just the same as 4A-GE's output. I guess I'll go for normally aspirated setup first. But suspension will be modernized as soon as possible. That body roll almost made me sick."

Akira nodded. "That's a wise way to start. I'm sure your father will teach you some neat tricks so the ricers won't be in your face." Akira grinned at that remark. "Seriously speaking.. I heard that The Three Katana's are back, faster than ever."  
Ryuu nodded. "I know, Akane called me up there to watch the race. And I'll probably search for the third team. This time I'll challenge them. And your dad mixed the deck totally last night. He gave some vital knowledge about my car to Project.D's Ryosuke Takahashi. And today, I met Fujiwara in a resting site, and he told me about your dad's visit into their practice. Somehow he seemed to be slightly nervous about your dad."

Akira grunted. "He has a damn good reason to be nervous. Dad went there with THE Car. Even I am afraid of that black beast."

"He drove all the way there with Kuro-Ken? He's crazier than I thought. Did he..?" Akira nodded before Ryuu finished his question. So, Katashi had raced last night, and obviously he had won.  
"What about Kohaku? Has he heard anything about third team? I could have some use for any information you or him can get. Though, I have a hunch that they or he/she might have rather special ride." Akira nodded. Top notch drivers usually had something rather unorthodox machines at their disposal.

"I'll ask him if he can find out something about the top three." Ryuu nodded, then remembered to ask: "Oh, by the way, Akane's racing with her sisters tonight against Cheetah Brothers. Wanna come and watch it with me? And later I'm going to Wangan again, just to see if there's something interesting.." Akira hesitated. "Well, I'd rather check the engine and take a long test run, just to see if there's possible weak spots.."  
"Oh come on.. Your old man can do it. It might have stains on the backseat when he returns it to you, but.." Ryuu smirked as Katashi yelled "I heard that, smart-ass!" from the car. Akira laughed. "You're probably correct about the stains.. but yes, he can do it. After I've done it." Ryuu sighed and shrugged. "Whatever makes you tick, buddy. You got my number if you change your mind."

Akira nodded and walked to his car, sitting on the passenger seat. He hardly had closed the door as Katashi already floored the throttle and lifted the clutch. Tires squealed just a bit as old classic dashed away. Ryuu chuckled and walked to his own car, strapping himself into the bucket seat. For a moment he considered using full boost mode, but then his common sense kicked in, and he drove away, heading to Akane's apartment.

_15 minutes later_

Ryuu parked his car behind 3 familiar Hondas. He got out of his car, looking at the S2000's, that had been out of the game for a while due their crash some weeks ago. They had received new aero parts and carbonfibre hardtops. Ryuu also spotted few subtle badges from Amuse, and suddenly it struck him. These two S2K's looked exactly like Amuse S2000 GT1's. Ryuu wondered, if there was as much punch under the bonnet as in the original monster of a car.

He hardly had reached the door as Akane and her sisters had surrounded him and pulled him in, giggling and babbling excitedly into each others mouths. Ryuu had to raise his voice to get the girls calm. For a while they talked about cars. Hotaru and Emi told that their cars were look-wise and suspension wise as close to the original Amuse GT1 as they could, but their engine specifications hadn't changed much. "Mostly because we didn't have afford. If you hadn't beaten us when you did and if we wouldn't had crashed, we both would have near 500 bhp under bonnet.."

Ryuu could only shrug at that. "Well, I did spend the money as I planned. I have two cars now, the blue one that you saw earlier, and now that red one, which is my weapon for Wangan." Emi and Hotaru looked at him. "Are you serious? You took that shoppingbag to Wangan?" Ryuu looked at Akane, who just smirked. "Sisters, you're speaking of a shoppingbag that did reach over 230mph top speed on it's first run ever." Emi and Hotaru stared at her, then at Ryuu who just scratched his head, looking bit embarrassed. "Well.. that is true.. it has over 920 bhp at maximum boost. It's aerodynamics need some work, nose started to lift at 250mph.."  
Emi and Hotary mock-pouted. "That's unfair.. We were so happy of our repaired cars and now you just tell us that you have trouble at supercar speeds! You really know how to ruin a girl-racers day." Ryuu chuckled, then took a sip from his lemonade, and almost chocked when Akane told her sisters about their night together. He knew that he was in a deep trouble when he saw the menacing grins on Akane's sisters faces.

"Four times, and that's when he was drunk? My my, I wonder what he can do when he's sober.." Hotaru whispered loudly to Emi. Ryuu's face was burning from sheer embarrasment. Akane told her sisters to quit teasing his boyfriend, which made them giggle. Ryuu sighed. He was sure that they would deliver many low blows at him when Akane wouldn't be nearby.

Hours flew by as they talked, and finally they decided that they'd better get going. Emi, and Hotaru had literally been sitting on the edge of their seats already, and they were already in their cars when Ryuu and Akane got out from the door. They shared a small kiss, before Ryuu let her to sit into her NSX's bucket seat.  
"Drive carefully." Ryuu said, getting a sigh and playful roll of eyes from her. "I'll call to Akira and ask if he has changed his mind. You three go ahead, I'll meet you at the pylon." Akane nodded, closing the door, and then, Three Katanas left him in a cloud of tyre smoke.

"Show-offs.." He sighed and dialed his friends number.

Akira didn't answer. After three attempts, Ryuu gave up and got into his car, heading to the pylon. He still had difficulties to remember that this cars idle was around 2k rpms. "Geez.. this car just doesn't have any 'economical' tendencies.." Ryuu grunted as he nearly had stalled the Starlet in the lights. Some idiot in a Lexus laughed at him, and as a result, red Starlet blasted past him, accompanied by the scream of JGTC-spec rotary engine. Yuppie in the Lexus didn't laugh anymore. "F-fast.. Starlet.."

In the meanwhile, Daichi was driving to WTCR-magazines office. He had agreed of meeting with Kohaku, who had acquired some new info about the top three. Of course, that task had originally been Akira's task, but he had simply dropped it to Kohaku, just like big brothers tend to do from time to time.  
Kohaku was at the door with a bunch of papers as Daichi drove on the parking lot. "Yo! Long time no see, Koku," Daichi greeted the young reporter, who nodded. "I found some stuff about the top three. It's more than few months old, but it's better than nothing. Come in, I have more stuff on my desk."

Kohaku went thru the papers on his desk, digging up some pictures about few cars, that were associated with the top three. "Whoa.. Talk about exotic machinery.. is that a Lotus?" Daichi asked, and Koku nodded. "We're quite sure that it's first gen Exige, better known as Lotus Motorsport Elise. That's number one's car. This is number two's ride."  
Daichi frowned, thinking that the picture had failed slightly. "Is that Capucchino?" Kohaku shook his head. "No, it's Vitara X90. AWD model with 1.6l 16valve engine. Quite similar to Ryuu's KP60 in terms of power and handling. It looks weird because of the high roof and short rear-end, but believe me, you don't want to race it on downhill."

Daichi rolled his eyes, and snorted as he saw the third picture. "You must be kidding.. Out of all cars, number three of this area drives AMC Pacer?" Kohaku laughed. "Look closer.. it's Gremlin X, big bad brother of Pacer. The word is that it has highly tuned, normally aspirated Toyota V8 under the bonnet." Daichi shook his head. "These guys are crazy.. I can understand the Lotus, which is perfect car for Touge, but these two others.. AWD Kei-class car and V8-powered American shitbox?"

"That's exactly what other teams said some months ago." Kohaku's boss said from the door. "No-one thought that these guys with their weird, foreign machinery could be threat on Touge, but they learned the lesson quite quickly. These three have clearly different strong points. Lotus is fastest in the corners, outhandling anything that locals were throwing at it. X90 out-accelerated them at the exit of the corners, and Gremlin shred them into pieces on straights."  
Daichi frowned. "They've been unbeaten this far? Damn.. Ryuu's going at them next. This will be interesting. What about the boss of the Wangan?" Kohaku picked up new pictures. "You're looking at Mercedes Benz 600CE'93.. or that's what it used to be. Now it's more like aerodynamic dragster, pushing out over 1500bhp and delivers them to all four wheels. "  
Daichi whistled. "Woah, that's pretty impressive. I bet his tyres don't last longer than one run but it also seems that he has afford to do it. But I heard that he's not the fastest or most powerful out there." Kohaku looked at him. "Damn.. Ryuu's going to need third car at this rate if he wants to have even slightest chance of winning on Wangan."

_**In the next chapter Akane and her sisters will go head on with Cheetah Brothers! Which team will win, Rotary Revolutionists or V-Tech warriors?**_


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Troublesome Triplet returns!**

Up at the pylons parking lot, crowd was getting nervous. The contestants were ready to line up on the starting line, but no-one was talking of them at the moment. Everyone was listening carefully, hoping to catch the first hints of Midnight Dragons even more fierce brother. Akane had announced that Ryuu was coming up there with his new, Wangan-spec KP60, and that was something unusual. Of course it would be in low boost mode, but still, over 600bhp was respectable amount of power.

In the distance, down on the roots of the mountains, Ryuu smiled as he raised his speed, letting the rotary engine do what it did best: Rev higher and higher, until it sounded like divebomber from second world war. Tires squealed as they did their best to deliver the power to the road despite clever ATTESA-ETS Pro AWD system. The sound was easily heard at the top of the mountain.

"Oh my god.. It's him, he's coming!" Someone yelled, and small murmur spread among the crowd as the devilish howl grew louder, accompanied by screeching of tires. "We can't see the lights yet, and still it's that loud already? It sounds more like JGTC-machine than usual car.." The voice grew in strength until the red/black devil of a car emerged from the darkness, blinding the crowd with it's headlights and silencing them with it's fierce, shrieking exhaust note. Ryuu stopped the car, blipping the throttle few times until the crowd realized that he wanted to park his car.

Akane ran to the car, opening the door and hugging Ryuu as soon as he got out of the car. "Look what you have done now, you stole our crowd.. Show-off.." Ryuu laughed and shook his head. "So it seems.. But I guess they'll forget it as soon as the race starts."  
He locked the doors. "You may watch but not touch. And if there's questions, I'll answer after these beauties have raced, allright?" Crowd murmured slightly and they returned to the starting area, where Cheetah Brothers and Akane's sisters were waiting.

"Yuuka, Nori, good to see you two." Ryuu shaked hands with both of them. Nori kept shooting nervous glances at Ryuu's car. "He won't bite you unless you insult him." Ryuu smirked, and Nori blushed. "Sorry, didn't mean to.. It's just so.. menacing.. I thought that the original one was scary, but this.." Nori shivered.  
"It is a bit of a beast even now. I can't relax for a second when I drive it or it'll bite my head of..f or worse. But, it's not what we're here for." Ryuu said, looking at Akane and her sisters, winking at them. Akane sat into her pure white widebody-kitted NSX, and her sisters did the same in their S2000's. The Cheetah Brothers followed their example, sitting into their cars and starting the engines. Crowd moved away from the starting area, except few reporters from WTCR, who were snapping shots from the cars.

For a change it was Ryuu, who did the countdown. When he reached the end of the count, 5 cars blasted past him, disappearing to the night. Ryuu could only hope that there wouldn't be crashes this time. The road was wide, but not that wide, and 3 cars racing each others was already pushing ones luck. But now there was five cars, going all out, and both sides had a lot to lose.

Akane grinned widely as she went through gears swiftly, accelerating hard to keep up with the Cheetah Brothers. As a mid-engined car, her NSX had better traction off the line than her sisters or Cheetah Brothers. Thanks to the eagerly revving normally aspirated V6, her acceleration matched those single-turbo FD's acceleration well, especially at higher revs. She noticed that her sisters had been left slightly behind.  
"Come on, sisters, press the pedal to the medal! As soon as the straights start, we'll pass these boys by using X-2-3-1, got that?" Both sisters answered positively, and their S2000 started to shorten the gap.

_back at the starting line_

"So, Emi and Hotaru promised to give their numbers to Nori and Yuuka in case that they would lose..? I see.." Ryuu laughed. Those girls would never change. "That's how they distracted my thoughts from the race as well. It was a close call, but I managed to turn the situation upside down before the second run. And the rest was pure luck", Ryuu explained to someone. He listened the weakening sounds of the cars that were tearing through the night. "_Drive as fast as you can, Akane. I know you can beat them just like I did.."_ Ryuu whispered in his mind.

Akane had let her sisters to pass herself, giving them a chance to execute the tactic she had created. As soon as straight opened in front of them, She barked an order, and both S2000's formed a line, taking the left side of the road. Nori instinctively took that side as well, and on that instant, Hotaru's S2000 passed Emi's car and managed to push it's nose next to Nori's RX-7. Hotaru grinned triumphantly at Nori, who was astonished. "_Where did she come from? I could had sworn that she was behind me!"_  
"Well done, Hotaru! Now, your turn, Emi!" Youngest of the triplet made room for Akane's NSX, which glued it's nose to Nori's rear bumper. Emi dropped behind the NSX, ready for quick attack as soon as the next straight would open up. At the vacuum of JGTC-kitted car she could easily keep up with the faster cars, and then sling her car past their opponents. "Piece of cake, sisters. Let's aim for 1-X-3-X-5 situation. That should guarantee victory for us!"

Ryuu listened the radio reports, slightly surprised from this simple yet aggressive tactic that Three Katanas were using. Then it hit him. "_If I wouldn't had kept my distance to them, they would had beaten me with this tactic..!"_, He thought. He started to respect this troublesome triplet much more.

This time, Nori was ready for the attack. Akane switched lanes multiple times, Emi following in her wake. Nori blocked every attempt, until he stayed bit too long on the right lane. Emi had already started to pass the NSX when he noticed his mistake. It was too late to fix the error, as the S2000 crept next to Nori's FD. "_That's it.. The NSX creates strong vacuum, and they used it to drafting and gaining speed for the straight, so they could sling themselves past me.. but.. that's more like Wangan-technique!"_ Nori thought as Emi slowly yet certainly passed him. "_Brother.. please, I hope that you realize this too!"_

Yuuka had no clue what had happened behind him. All he knew was that somehow one of the S2000's had slipped past his brother, and was now copying his lines accurately.  
"I will not be beaten by a girl!" He growled as he accelerated out of the corner. He noticed that the S2000 tried to pass him from the left, and he blocked the attempt instantly. And within a second of that flawlessly executed trick, his heart skipped few beats as he heard the demonic shriek of highly tuned naturally aspirated engine right next to him. He could only watch helplessly as Emi's S2000 passed him, gaining the lead position just as Akane had planned. "_What the hell is going on in here, Nori? They can't be faster than us when exiting the corner!"_ He thought fiercely, pounding the steering wheel with his fist as they passed the goal.

_Later, back on the top of the mountain_

"These kids are good. Even those girls are both pretty AND competitive.. I wouldn't mind racing against them in the future." Ken, number three of this mountain pass said to Ichiro and Katsuro, who were fastest and second fastest, followed by Ken. Their cars had been parked further, and very few people had noticed their arrival.  
"I'm not worried of the girls, Ken. Look at that kid who arrived in that KP60.. Or, don't just look, but FEEL his aura. He's.. Scaring me." Ichiro murmured, his cold, lifeless eyes locked on Ryuu. "He has been trained by The Surgeon, which means that he has huge potential once he sits in that car, or any car that has any potential to go fast in right hands."  
Ken looked at Ichiro, frowning. "Are you saying that that brat is freaking you out, is that it?" Short, fat man looked at the former professional with disbelief. "He drives mere KP60. It's Touge-specifications point out that it's not match to my Gremlin, not to mention your Exige. Even Katsuro's X90 could beat it."

"You just don't understand, do you, Ken? You don't need to overpower your competition when you want to be the fastest." Ichiro said, smirking at Ken who put power and torque above everything else. "That's why you're fast only on straights.. and lose in corners."  
Ken snorted. "Bah! Corners solve races only when the cars are underpowered!" Both Katsuro and Ichiro chuckled at Ken's statement. "Ken, you should live in America. You'd be happy there."  
Ken grunted and straightened his back, looking over the crowd. "At least roads are straight and cars powerful there.."

Ichiro managed to hold back his sarcastic remark about fast food restaurants, which were Ken's biggest weakness. He watched closely as the second run started, keeping his eye on the young driver of Midnight Dragon. "Ryuu Masaru .. You're coming after us, aren't you? We're ready for you anytime.." Former professional mumbled, as he looked at Ryuu and his car. "This is going to be interesting.."

In the cockpit of the NSX, Akane was sweating and grunting as she fought with Nori's RX-7 for the third position. Nori and Yuuka knew their strategy now, and kept their lines as tight and sharp as possible. In one of the mid-section straights she saw that Emi had already passed Yuuka, whose passing attempt had been blocked almost rudely by Hotaru. Emi had used the chance and her car had squeezed itself between the wall and RX-7, that had been forced to slow down or crash thru the rail.  
"Isn't your strategy working anymore, huh, Akane? I bet you're sweating that nice blouse of yours wet at the moment.." Nori grinned, blocking yet another attempt by Akane.  
"You bastard.. I'm faster than you, so.." They arrived at corner, and Akane steered to the outer line , as if she'd try to pass Nori from the outside. Nori blocked the attempt instinctively, falling into Akane's trap.  
"**..GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!**" She yelled, flooring the throttle and using the excellent grip of her car to slip between Nori and the wall, out-accelerating him with ease.

Nori could only swear fiercely as the NSX went after his brother like white, roaring missile of destruction. Yuuka, on the other hand, saw this happening and grunted, as he was having hard time with the two S2000's in front of him. They were so close to each other that he couldn't pass. It didn't take too long before Akane's white, widebody-kitted NSX was breathing into his neck.

"Sisters, time for 'tired smiley' in the next corner and this race will be ours!" Emi and Hotaru grinned. Yuuka kept his front bumper glued to the S2000's rear bumper, and suddenly, second of the S2000's dropped half car lengths back, effectively nailing him there, as Akane accelerated, flashing her lights that she was ready to pass the RX-7 completely. As These four cars exited the corner, Emi braked, forcing Yuuka to slow down as well, thus sealing the fate of this race.

_Back at the top of the mountain_

"What the hell did you think you were doing back there, you crazy chick?! Blocking and braking right in front of me and on the side of my car, just so your sister could pass?!" Yuuka yelled at the girls as they got out of their cars.  
"Tut tut, mister. Let's not lose our cool just because you haven't seen teamwork before." Akane grinned and winked at the furious Cheetah Brothers. "It was fair and square, sweetie, so start paying up before you lose more than just money." Yuuka gritted his teeths, as he picked the bank note from his pocket, giving it to Akane before stomping his way back to his car.

"You know, Yuuka.. If I hadn't kept my distance back then like I did, I would had fallen for that tactic as well.." Ryuu said to the beaten RX-7 driver. "They're women. Ruthless, evil, twisted and cunning.. and they have absolutely no doubt that they couldn't do what we can.. so.. don't take it personally."  
Yuuka sighed, relaxing a bit. "Thanks, I guess.. I think that it would have happened just like that in real professional racing as well.. They're amazing." After that, Cheetah brothers left the scene.

"Indeed that was circuit racer technique.. Bit raw and bluntly executed, but effective at these circumstances." Ichiro murmured. He had enjoyed of the great show, and he had also seen female racers before. He also knew that they were most fierce competitors when they got a chance.  
"I shall not underestimate them at all.. If Ryuu teams up with them, they'll be great, shining comets among usual twinkling stars.." Ichiro, bit his lip, then returned to his car. Bright yellow Lotus Motorsport Elise, often referred as first gen Exige waited for him, and came alive suddenly after he had sit inside. Soon, this lightweight, mid-engined road going racing machine blasted down the hill, surprising and frightening the hell out of few other racers that were returning to their homes.  
_  
Next morning_

After celebrating the victorious return of The Three Katana's, Ryuu waked up with slight headache as Akira called him, asking him to help with his car. Ryuu said that he wanted to take a shower and have coffee with some painkillers before moving an inch, and finally, they agreed that Ryuu would be in the Hideaki's garage around ten.  
_  
few hours later_

Akira slammed the hood down, sighing and swept some sweat from his face, smearing it with oil. He groaned, stretching a bit before he looked at Ryuu, nodding. "Start her up, Ryuu. Let's see if this old lady has accepted these modifications."  
Ryuu turned the key, and after short hesitation, Levin's engine awakened into new life. Akira's grin was splitting his face when he heard the new voice of his beloved car, and it only got wider when Ryuu blipped the throttle. Deep, throaty snarl was the result of independent throttle bodies and new exhaust system, accompanied with new camshafts and pulleys that they had installed earlier this morning.

"YAY! We did it! She's singing to me again!" Ryuu laughed at his friend's enthusiasm, and even Katashi smiled, proud of his sons achievement. He had done these modifications completely himself. Of course, the engine wasn't the only thing that was upgraded. Steering rack had been altered too for quicker response, and suspension had been built from best possible parts.  
"Well done, kids. I guess you two want to go for shakedown run, eh?" Akira nodded, as Ryuu shut down the engine, getting out of the car. "I think we should get some food first, I haven't eaten since morning."  
Akira glanced at the clock, realizing that it was afternoon already, and suddenly his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten that much either.

In the kitchen they bumped into Kohaku, who had a day off from the magazine. "oh, I actually wanted to see you. I found quite a bit info about your future opponents." Kohaku explained what he had found from the archives, and even Katashi looked bit baffled as he heard about the opponents cars. "Old V8-powered subcompact from US and small K-class sports car? Either they're truly skilled or then they're nuts."  
"I'm willing to bet for both options.. since I recognize that Lotus and it's driver. They were at the Pylon last night. I wondered why they were staring at me and my car."

"Really? They've kept low profile until recently. Though, they've probably noticed your sudden attack through the teams, so they probably just checked you out. If Ichiro was there, then other two were there as well. Together they're the top 3 of that pass." Kohaku said to Ryuu, who nodded. He remembered seeing two other guys standing next to the first one. He had also spotted the cars.  
"I can't take this lightly. We have to find out a way to improve the performance and traction. It will most likely swallow the rest of the money I have left from the wins but I don't care."

Akira sighed. So much about the time he had planned to spend with his own car. Ryuu noticed his friends expression and laughed. "No worries, I'll wait them to challenge me, I'm not going to attack them."  
Kohaku stared at Ryuu, then asked carefully: "Isn't that bit arrogant? you're the one who is supposed to challenge them, not other way round.."  
Ryuu nodded. "That's the plan. They'd think I'm just an arrogant brat and take me lightly, which would make things easy for me. And that crazy wangan machine.. Well, I have to see what I could do about it in the future. I have a gnawing suspicion that his car will not be as fast as it might look like." Ryuu explained.  
"And last night, I heard something rather nasty from the gearbox of the beast. I think it'll give in soon, so I'll see if I can scoop up enough money for a new, bit stronger gearbox."

Katashi smiled. "You're growing up quickly, Ryuu. Playing mind games like that is risky, but it also brings some fun factor and excitement into the game. What kind of gearbox were you planning to get, if the current one blows up?" Katashi asked innocently.  
Ryuu looked bit uncertain. He wasn't sure if he wanted to reveal that one yet, nor the fact that he wasn't as broke as he seemed. "Uhm.. I was thinking something endurance-level stuff, that can take the abuse. Perhaps something second-hand or such." He said carefully.

"Oh really..? What about that _seven-speed pneumatic gearbox that you ordered last night from Getrac_?" Katashi asked, smirking as he saw quick shock flashing on Ryuu's face. Kohaku and Akira stared at their friend, who just scratched his neck, blushing a bit. "Oh, that one.. yeah.. right.. well, let's just say that I have my small contacts to the automotive industry as well.." He looked everyone apologetically. Akira nodded, since many things had become more clear now. At that point anyone else would have been happy, but not Katashi. "Well, if you won't say it, then I will.. Why did you keep it as a secret, that you're the son of late owner of MAA, or Masaru Automotive Accessories, that has been hanging in the top ten list of Japanese industry for longer than 7 years?"

Ryuu twitched, taking a step backwards. That was a thing that he didn't want to speak of, not now. He sighed, considering a bluff, then giving up. "Because I have nothing to do with that company. True, I have the ownership of my fathers company, but that is all. I don't go to the meetings or such, since I have no clue what they do there. I get 'some' money monthly, and uncle of mine keeps eye on things."  
Katashi nodded, grunting approvingly. "I guess you have your reasons not to speak about it until now. I had my suspicions since you began to gather parts for the car. You seemed to find them easily and have afford to them as well. I'll let this be for now, but rest assured that I'll use it as leverage sooner or later."  
Ryuu muttered something about old people who don't know how to keep their noses out of someone elses privacy. Katashi just chuckled. "If and WHEN you become a professional, 'privacy' has no meaning any longer. Better get used to that thought now than never."

Ryuu sighed. "I guess you're right. Sorry about that. I just wanted to be an ordinary guy."  
Kohaku snorted out loud. "What kind of ordinary guy owns TWO KP60's that can compete on mountains and highways? If you consider yourself ordinary, then you're first ordinary guy I've ever seen!"  
Everyone started to laugh, even Ryuu. "Heh, thanks Koku. Now, what was I planning before this mean old fart put me through third grade interrogation?"

They concentrated on the meal again, discussing about this and that, and soon the athmosphere was just as calm and friendly as it had been before. But elsewhere, things weren't so calm.

On the mountain pass that did lead to the pylon, new kind of beast shred it's way through corners and straights at scary pace.  
If someone had seen that car, he could had recognized it as SW20 MR2, but the soundtrack gave out the biggest modification: The engine was twice as big as the regular one, and had twice the cylinders.. and almost twice the power. And behind the wheel was a familiar face, that was frowned from concentration as he did his best to keep his new machine under control.  
"This time I have more suitable machine for this mountain pass, Midnight Dragon.. Soon I'll defeat you and toss your junkpile down from the cliff! You shall regret the day when you passed me and wrecked my car!"

Pink had returned, and he was more dangerous than before.


	11. Chapter 10

_Yeah yeah, i know that this is unnaturally short chapter from me, but I wanted to make this a sort of turningpoint in the plot.. oh, wait, I don't have a plot.. oh well. anyways, i expect more reviews this time. they encourage me to keep on writing, so please, review the chapters that I put up or else.. ò.ó_

**Chapter 10: Enormous Eight, Mischievous Monk  
**

Ryuu held himself steady on Akira's passenger seat, as his friend attacked yet another corner on the edge of the control. Tires howled as they did their best to defeat the forces that were trying to alter the direction of the car. Akira kicked the clutch as Ryuu had instructed him to do, and the rear of the car broke free.

Akira countersteered, but it was bit too late, and he had to turn the wheel faster. Ryuu braced himself, and then they both became passengers as the old Levin spun wildly, stopping just inches away from the guardrail.

"You're still too slow with your countersteering, Akira. You should start it on that fraction of second when the clutch is up and traction in the rear is gone. You can feel it, right? Floating, slippery feeling, as if there's no tires in the rear at all, just some sort of force that keeps the rear in the air." Akira sighed. He had felt it alright, but the driving schools lessons were still nagging at him.

"Yeah, I did feel it, but the instincts tell me to press the clutch and drop off the throttle. I can't help it yet."

Ryuu nodded. He had been through that as well, as he had been learning how to drive faster. Eventually he had grown past the things he had learned at the driving lessons.

"You need to unlearn what you have learned in the past. Let it go and take new knowledge in it's place."

Akira laughed. "Gee, thanks a lot master Yoda. I feel a lot more confident now." Ryuu grinned as Akira started the car again and began to drive down the road, laughing at Ryuu's poor Yoda-imitations.

_Meanwhile, in the industrial area of the city_

Katashi was walking past line of shiny new Nissans. They were rolling out from the production line and loaded into trains that would take them to the harbor. There was few guards around, and one was walking with Katashi and one of the development engineers in the Nissan's performance arm, Nismo. Katashi looked around, admiring the efficient operations around him. Their path went past the normal car production lines to entirely another building, that was surrounded by guards and tight security measures.

"Welcome to the lair of reborn Godzilla, Mr. Hideaki." Young engineer said, grinning as he saw Katashi's expression. There were dozens of new GT-R's in various states of assembly. There were three assembly-lines this far, but Katashi could tell that there was room for more. The cars were already partially painted, waiting for the final touches. Katashi loved the sharp and aggressive looks of the car already.

"This way, please." Engineer and guard led him to another part of the building. Lights were off, and Guard stopped him in the middle of the floor, telling him to wait there. Engineer disappeared to the darkness ahead of them. Suddenly, bright lights ignited right in front of Katashi.

Before he had time to react, deep roar of powerful engine shook him and the lights leaped towards him, stopping just inches away from his legs. The halls lights were turned on, and in front of him was such a menacing beast of a car that even Kuro Ken would had looked tame next to it. Engineer revved the car few more times, before leaving the car purring as he climbed out.

"What do you like? This is the testbed of ours, that we use to try out different kind of modifications." Katashi managed to snap out of his trance, and started to walk around the car slowly. "Impressive.. is this going to be the next S- or Z-Tune?"

Katashi asked, looking at the subtle, yet beautiful touches that separated this particular car from the production line models.

"It's most likely going to be the Z-tune. The base models performance has been limited pretty heavily, but this doesn't have any restrictions or ECU programs to hold it down. No traction or stability control either."

Katashi grinned and grouched, looking under the wheel arches. "Hmm.. 6-pot rear brakes and 8 potters in front..? This car must be able to slow down from 230mph in less than ten seconds."

Engineer smiled, nodding. "On Nardo it clocked 240mph and there was still few thousand revs to go. With warmed up tires it hit to 60 in 2.7 seconds, and 200 was reached within 17 seconds. If this car wouldn't have so much downforce to keep it on the ground, it would slip past Veyron in top speed, when using those last few thousand revs on seventh gear."

Katashi nodded, then peeked inside the car. "Pretty spartan interior.. Carbon fiber here and there.. How much does this beauty weight?"

Engineer checked his papers. "1200kg wet, with all fluids and fuel. Oh, and the power is 1100bhp, and it's accompanied by over 1300nm of torque." Katashi spun around, staring at the engineer. "You must be kidding.. even Le Mans-racers don't have that much power."

Engineer smiled proudly. "This car has entirely different engine than the regular models. Pop the hood and you'll see." Katashi did so, walking to the front of the car and lifted the light carbon fiber hood. He had seen the spy photos of the regular models engine bay, but this was different.

The engine was huge even though it was mounted low and very far behind, and it boasted two large turbochargers on both sides, with Nismo badges on the valve covers. "Ooohh.. Isn't this V8 from the Titan? And VTG's.."

Engineer nodded. "It's been stroked and bored to 6 liters,ports have been polished, block and rotating parts have been reinforced and balanced as well as possible, and rev limiter doesn't interfere before 9500rpms. Suspension is adjustable in every possible way, including dampers, rollbars etc.." He lifted his eyebrow. "Still interested of test drivers job?"

Katashi didn't answer. He just stood there and admired the beast.

_at Hideaki's residence_

Ryuu's both cars were sitting in the front of the carage, since they both needed some work to be done on them. They had become neighborhoods kids main attraction. They argued about the looks and performance, even had small brawls about these facts. But today, they watched from further away as some old buddhist monk came there.

The monk walked to the cars, looking both at them intently, before shivering a bit. Maybe there was a gust of wind that made him shiver.. or something else. Kids looked at the old monk curiously, as he bowed and seemed to start some sort of ritual.

Kids looked at each other, then to the old monk as he attached some sort of paper notes on the cars, mumbling prayers or maybe a spell. Suddenly the papers burst into flames and vanished, and the monk stood up, looking satisfied. Kids rubbed their eyes, not believing what they had seen.

Sudden gust of wind blew some leaves across the road, making the monks cape flutter slightly. The monk bowed once more before leaving the cars behind. His task here was done, where as Ryuu's task was just about to begin.

Monk chuckled slightly. He wished that he could witness the first meeting between Ryuu and his new friends. He knew that Ryuu would catch him sooner or later for this, but this had happened before with few other cars, such as the Devil Z and Berserker R.

To Be Continued...?


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Night of Monsters**

Few days had passed since they had started their work on the KP60's. They both got a bump on their power, and the red one got a new pneumatically operated transmission in order to prevent future problems with power delivery.  
The red one got finally a name after some long consideration, and with a spray of washer fluid, the car was christened as "Ifrit", since it indeed did remind those fiery, savage spirits of Arabic mythology. Katashi still hadn't returned from his mysterious trip, so the kids were basically alone, doing whatever they liked.

"So, with this new ECU-program and upgraded super-and turbochargers the power tops out at 380bhp when boost scramble is enabled.. I have to get some experience of this new setup on the road, but that can wait. I hardly can wait to see what Ifrit can do with 1300bhp and these new Michelin tires!" Ryuu said, petting the special tires like proud father. Kohaku suffocated a chuckle rather violently.

Akira grinned. "Those tires.. Aren't they the same that are used in Veyron..?" He asked. "They must have cost a load of money.."  
Ryuu twitched. "You have no idea.. I ordered few sets of them, and it's about 2,5 million yens for one set.." Akira just gaped at him, just like Kohaku did. They certainly weren't used to hear about such large sums of money.

"What? You'd better get used to it that I'm not as broke as I used to be." Ryuu smirked, making the brothers roll their eyes.

Later in the evening, Ryuu decided to postpone the test of Ifrit, and climbed into the Touge-oriented car. He started it up, blipping the throttle few times. The sound of spooling was bit more dominant now, and the wastegate chattered more sharply as it released the overpressure from the induction system.

"My oh my, this will be fun. We shall see if we need to start thinking about taller sixth gear ratio. Is either of you willing to sit on the other seat?"  
After brief hesitation Kohaku climbed on the seat, while Akira went to his own car, starting it and dashing off in a cloud of smoke. "Show off.. " Ryuu muttered and launched his car after Akira's Levin, heading to the pylon.

They didn't notice dark car that emerged from the shadows, it's lights turned off as it followed it's prey.  
Levin and Midnight Dragon attacked uphill eagerly, and finally Ryuu could totally enjoy of going uphill. He had mainly done downhill racing, but now he had enough power to take his opponents on uphill as well.

He kept some pressure on Akira, just to see how he'd cope with it. Kohaku laughed as he saw how his brothers car wiggled in the exit of the corners. "He's not that good yet, but there's definitely improvement there. At least he didn't spin this time."  
The dark car kept it's distance to the two cars ahead of it, following them slowly like a hunter tracking it's prey. Low rumble from it's exhaust echoed slightly from the walls as the car kept it's speed matched with the Levin and KP60 as they raced up to the pylon.

_-Somewhere on the highway..-_

Katashi was sweating slightly as he touched the paddle, slipping in bigger gear as he accelerated. The scenery and few cars that he passed were a blur of color and light. Tonight he was determined to find out the very limits of Godzilla GT-R's performance.150 Mph felt like 50 mph, and still the car felt remarkably stable. Thunder-like rumble of the exhaust, that was about a feet away from his seat, made the whole car shiver as Katashi pressed the throttle deeper. He passed some car that had wing and bodykit, but dismissed it as a ricer. Oh, how wrong he was.

Suddenly the GT-R's cabin was full of light as that car started tailgating him. Katashi glanced on his mirrors, identifying the modified car as older Mercedes coupe, that obviously had been modified for insane Wangan-runs.  
Katashi grinned. If that Merc-driver wanted a race, it was fine by him. He floored the throttle, and Nismo-tuned V8 roared eagerly, making the car leap forwards. His chaser accelerated as well, but it wasn't quite as eager to accelerate as the GT-R.

Katashi frowned as the gap didn't seem to open up as much as he wanted it to. Mercedes stayed on his wake, drafting in the vacuum that the GT-R created. Katashi began to pass the cars sharply, cutting them off as he swerved from side to side, changing lanes as quickly as possible, just to keep the Mercedes off his tail. Slowly the gap opened more, and Katashi saw a chance for kill and went for it, pressing the throttle pedal down all the way.

GT-R's thundering roar got deeper, and speed climbed over 200mph with such ease, as if the car would have been meant to cruise at such speed. Katashi looked at the mirror, grunting as he saw that the merc hadn't been left behind. Instead, it was slowly gaining on him. "You got power, I have to admit.. But I have more gears." He touched the paddle and sixth gear slipped in as the speed went past 230mph.

At this point, these two beasts were roaring ahead, accelerating side by side on the empty straight. Neither of them gave up, and speed was creeping past 250mph. "_Welcome to the Veyron territory.. and beyond!_" Katashi thought as he slipped seventh gear in. Mercedes was left behind as the victorious GT-R disappeared into the night at speed that would make every super- and hypercar envious.

_-At the pylon-_

Akira and Ryuu were surprised as they turned their cars around on the parking lot, as they saw a black car emerging from the darkness and blocking the way out.  
"What the..?" Ryuu muttered as he stopped his car, opening the door and stepping out. Akira had got out from his car as well.

Kohaku looked at the ominous looking car for a while. "I've seen that car before.. it's TRD-tuned SW20 MR-2, with a highly tuned, normally aspirated V8 from Lexus LS400. It appeared few weeks ago around here, and has been spotted on this downhill and on highways as well, as if it had been searching something or someone." Ryuu nodded, and then the MR-2's door opened and driver got out.  
"Ryuu Masaru, finally I got you cornered. This time I'm better equipped for Touge.." The driver said, sneering at him.Ryuu frowned. "Excuse me, but do I know you? I don't remember your face."

Other driver snorted. "Of course you don't remember me, you moron! We never saw face to face, and still you did beat me three times in row, first on Wangan, then twice on this downhill here. But now, I'll beat you so badly that your rising star will fade away faster than lightning."  
Ryuu stared at him. Suddenly it came to him. "Oh.. Ohhh, now I remember.. You're Pink, right? You got a new ride pretty quickly, and haven't saved any money when building it. Too bad that money can't buy skill.."

Pink growled. "Look who's talking.. I've been practicing here every night and since my SW20 is way lot smaller and more suitable than Supra was, it's easier to drive on these tight corners. And thanks to MR layout and grunt from the V8, I've been able to beat many racers here as well, and you'll be joining them as well with your puny KP60."  
Ryuu raised his eyebrows. "Puny..? Funny, I think I remember leaving certain white Slowpra behind on highway and mountain pass.. What makes you think that your Mister Two would be any different from that? From my point of view, you've managed to ruin yet another sporty Toyota with your power obsession."

"There's never too much power when you have enough grip. I learned that on drag strip." Pink said, just to get an amused sneer from Ryuu. "Yeah, but you obviously failed to notice one little thing.. That drag strips are _straight, _ pretty much like Wangan where you should have stayed. You're on my home turf now."  
Pink looked like he would start a brawl right now. He took a while to calm down. "You.. Wrecked my car, and I will not rest until you've paid same price that I did. I'll race you here and now, and your car will most likely be wrecked as it should had been a long time ago. That is, if you're not too afraid to take my challenge, chicken.."

Akira gasped, as he remembered all too well what had happened at school when some bully had called Ryuu a chicken. Ryuu had placed a proper uppercut into the bully's chin, breaking few tooths in the process. After that the bullies had tried to get even with him, without any luck.

"Kohaku.. get into your brothers car. Akira, go to your place and wait there. I'll settle things for good with this idiot."  
Neither of the brothers did even consider doing otherwise. Kohaku looked from the window as these two road samurai's were left behind to settle their matters.  
"_Good luck, Ryuu._" He thought, hoping that his friend wouldn't do anything foolish.

Ryuu watched how Akira's Levin disappeared behind the first corner. He knew that it would take at least 10 minutes before they would reach the bottom of the mountain, so decided spend some time to find out what he had done to piss off this guy this badly.  
"What exactly is your problem with me, Pink? I understand that you didn't like being defeated in front of your ex-girlfriend, but that spin out and crash was purely your own fault." Ryuu asked from Pink, who had lit a cigarette.

"Mainly that first reason. I don't like being humiliated, and in a way that crash was your fault as well."  
"Bullshit. You crashed because you couldn't control your overpowered Wangan-machine when the tail stepped out. You don't just come on Touge with any kind of car. Every car you see here has been specially built and tuned into these conditions. That's why I built another car for Wangan. They differ from each other like ocean and desert." Ryuu said.

"I learned that quickly, as you can see. Now, I'm perfectly prepared for this battle." Pink boasted, blowing smoke from his mouth."  
"Oh really.. Then you can tell me what kind of drift styles there are, and why does one use clutch kick or trail braking in corners?" Ryuu asked, grinning.Pink gaped at him, obviously not having any clue about these essential things. "Huh..?"

Ryuu sighed, rolling his eyes. "You're about as well prepared for Touge as penguin is prepared to fly. It might be a bird but it can swim better than fly. You're not worthy opponent for me now, or anytime soon either. Go back to home and start studying. Otherwise you'll just wreck yet another car."  
"Shut up! You can't learn how to drive from the book or Internet!" Pink snapped, glaring at Ryuu.

"You should try watching a video called 'Drift Bible' then. You will be surprised how much you can learn from that. And then, there's huge amount of knowledge about Touge-racing on the Internet. Give it a try, keep practicing, and then I might waste some fuel on you." Ryuu said, turning his back to Pink and opening the door of his car, dropping on the bucket seat.

"Hey! Don't you turn your back to me, you fucking coward!" Pink yelled as Ryuu started the engine. Pink quickly got into his car as Ryuu darted off from the parking lot at full throttle, and soon Pink's V8-powered MR-2 followed the Midnight Dragon. "_You won't get away like that, Masaru! Ignoring me like that earned you a first class ticket to hell, and on that trip, I'll be the grim reaper!_"

**To be continued..**


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Spirits Within; Chiyoko and Ifrit**

Ryuu grimaced a bit as he heard and felt how the tires slipped when he applied more throttle, whipping the Midnight Dragon around the corners at feverish pace. He knew that Pink would have advantage at the straighter beginning section of this downhill circuit. Despite the power hike, he felt that he couldn't run from Pink this time.

"Come on, old girl, don't fail me now.. Show me what you can do!" Ryuu muttered as he accelerated beyond 100mph. He felt that the car did have lot to offer, but he had to find a way to pull it all out.

Pink bit his lip, glancing at the speedometer. He was driving faster than he had dared to drive with his precious Supra on this same road. He had exceeded 140mph, and still, he hadn't gained Ryuu as much as he should had.

"That bastard didn't go all out back then.." Pink thought, sliding his V8-powered SW20 MR2 around the corner, spotting the rear lights of the KP60. "Aha, there you are! I'm gaining on him.. You're going to be history soon, Masaru!"

On the base of the mountain, Akira and Kohaku were listening carefully. Then they heard it faintly, easily recognizable high-pitched wail and hissing of Ryuu's 4A-G hybrid, and brutal, savage bellowing of Pink's V8. "They've started.. I hope that Pink will learn from this time and stop bothering us." Kohaku said.

"That's highly unlikely. Pink has been a pain in the butt since he was passed on Wangan. He needs to learn things hard way.." Akira muttered, looking worried. "I hope he won't do anything ultimately stupid though."

Ryuu didn't need to look at his mirrors to know that Pink's black MR2 was right on his bumper as they both drifted, accelerated and decelerated into the corners and out of the corners, trying to outsmart each other. Ryuu could smell the odor of the burning brakes, and still, he was pretty sure that Pink's brakes were in similar condition.

At the moment, race was a tie, neither didn't give in an inch. Dark scenery was blur as they kept going down, corner after corner. Ryuu was sweating heavily as he struggled with the wheel, doing his best to keep his speed up, gripping when he could, hooking his inner tires on the gutters. Still, Pink was breathing on his neck, keeping the pressure high.

"Tires are starting to give in.." Ryuu realized as KP60 lurched sickeningly in mid-corner. "I need to end this quickly, but how..?" Ryuu's head hit the headrest as Pink's bumper tapped his, almost causing the KP60 spin out of control. "You son of a-!" Ryuu uttered as he regained control. He activated the boost scramble, increasing distance to the MR2. "Trying to push me off the road, huh?" It took a while before Ryuu realized that there was a woman on the passenger seat. "IWha?! Who the hell are you?!/I"

Pink grinned as he saw how the KP60 squirmed after the bump. "That's right, run and waste your tires, little one.. Soon you'll learn how to fly without wings" Pink sneered, applying more throttle, intending to slam harder to the rear of the small hatchback. But the car began to escape from him slowly. "Huh..? Oh no you won't!" Pink pushed a button on the wheel, and nitrous oxide flooded to the engine, boosting the combustion event and sending the MR2 after the smaller KP60.

"Uh, hello, master Masaru. I know that this really isn't a good moment, but I have to take some action to prevent the accident that this moron behind us is trying to cause." The female next to Ryuu said. She was dressed in dazzling blue outfit, that didn't seem to belong to this time.

She touched Ryuu's hand, and without any resistance, Ryuu felt that he had become just a passenger in his mind as this mysterious female took control of his body. Slowly but certainly, Pink's MR2 vanished from the mirrors, just to re-appear at great speed. They were just entering a corner, as the female decided to slam heavily on the brakes.

Pink instinctively swerved towards outside to avoid collision. He had too much speed, and once again, he could only press the clutch and brake as the guardrail approached him. His world faded out with the sound of shattering glass and crunching plastic and metal as his car smashed against the guardrail, ricocheting to the wall before stopping.

Female took his phone and dialed emergency number, calling an ambulance. Ryuu was back in control, and he spotted Akira and Kohaku on a parking lot. He drove to them, looking at the mystical female. "My name is Chiyoko, master Masaru. We'll be in touch later." After that she disappeared. Ryuu leaned his head against the wheel, panting.

Akira opened the door, looking at him. "Are you alright? We heard the sound of a crash.. Was it Pink again?" Ryuu lifted his head. "Yes.. He came into corner too fast.. It looked bad. I already called ambulance for him."

Akira nodded. They could already hear the sirens in the distance. "Come on, let's go home. You look like you would had seen a ghost." Ryuu glanced at him, nodding. "I did." Ryuu started the car, closing the door before Akira could ask more.

Pink awakened inside his car. For a moment he looked around, noticing the shattered windshield and battered hood. He opened the door, and carefully got out of his car, looking at the damage. It looked bad, but it wasn't beyond repair.

Guardrail had cushioned the worst impact and rubbed off the speed. He cursed and kicked the guardrail in his helpless rage, before sitting on the nose of his car. He could already hear the sirens. "_Why..? How?_" That was all what he could think. He sat there until ambulance arrived, explaining something about evading a squirrel that had ran across the road.

_At Hideaki's residence_

Ryuu was sitting in the garage, looking at both of his cars. He had a steaming cup of coffee on his hands, and he took a sip from it every now and then. He was seriously questioning his sanity. Womans that disappeared into thin air?

Akira joined him, sitting down and looking at the Midnight Dragon. "You'll need new tires before getting into next race.. But what happened? Was he really that hard opponent?"

Ryuu sighed. "I had difficulties to shake him off. He indeed has improved, but in the end, it was about the familiarity with the car and road, not to mention skills. And then there was that woman.."

Akira stared at him. "A woman? With Pink? That can't be, he's.."

Ryuu snorted. "No, Akira. A woman on MY car. She appeared out of nowhere, took control of my body causing Pink to crash, then disappeared saying that we would meet again."

Akira stared at him. "Are you sure you didn't bump your head when Pink tapped your bumper?"

Ryuu was about to give him a glare when new voice interrupted him. "Bah. Kid is just bit shocked from her sudden appearance. We usually come out only when our Master is in danger." They both looked up, noticing two figures next to the cars, a man and woman. Ryuu recognized the woman instantly. "That's her.. Chiyoko, was it?"

Woman nodded, then pointed at the man who had talked. "He's Ifrit, as you might have guessed, Master. I had hoped that we could meet in bit different kind of situation, but that incident earlier didn't give me any other chance."

Akira stared at both of them, mouth hanging as he tried to make something intelligent come out. "What.. When.. Who are you two?"

Ifrit spoke again. "It's rather simple, really. We are the spirits that were binded to these cars by an ancient spell. Didn't you see the monk who did it few days ago?"

Akira and Ryuu shook their heads. "No.. I guess it has happened when were on the mountain, trying out your Levin.."

Ifrit groaned, slapping his forehead. "Oh great.. Just perfect. That senile old fart forgot to tell about us again, and just performed the ritual without permission. Isn't it enough that Devil Z and Berserker R are running free?"

Chiyoko just rolled her eyes. "Well, at least you got binded to a car that suits your personality.. Show off." Ifrit ignored the last remark, looking at the car. "My oh my, you're right. It's a fine car indeed. Plenty of grunt and grip, where as yours has neither.. Well, that is probably better than what Hellena has."

Ryuu and Akira looked at each other, then back to these.. entities. "Uh.. Excuse me, but.. You two know each other..? And then, there's more of cars with 'spirits' like you two?" Ryuu asked, after taking a sip from his coffee. If he was shocked from this event, he didn't let it show. Akira on the other hand was just staring at the two.

Ifrit grunted. "Indeed it is so. There isn't many of incidents like this, but they do occur every now and then. And that crazy old monk isn't making things any easier. And your other question.. Yes, we know each other. We also know you, Ryuu Masaru. Everything about you. We will help.. And interfere when you're in trouble, but otherwise, don't bother your mind with us.. yet"

After that they vanished.

"W-were we hallucinating or something?" Akira asked, looking around nervously. He rubbed his arms, shivering.

"As far as I can tell, we didn't.. They were real apparitions.. Or then we both are going crazy." Ryuu said, squeezing his coffee mug tightly. "Tomorrow it's Ifrit's turn to have a shakedown run. I think it's ready for Wangan now, especially if we managed to fix the lifting of the nose."

Akira groaned. "Are you serious? That means that I have to get high octane fuel for you, and then my precious will smell like it for hours.." Ryuu rolled his eyes and sighed. "Very well, I'll get the fuel myself."

_In a motel nearby_

Ryosuke leaned his chin to his hands as he watched the video footage again and again. On the screen, black, heavily tuned MR2 and small, skillfully built KP60 roared past the camera endlessly. MR2 nudged the KP60 slightly, trying to make it spin. The KP60 recovered instantly, hardly slowing down at all.

"Is this all you could get of that race?" Ryosuke asked from Kenta., who had been scouting with Fumihiro this time.

"That was all. We didn't even know that there was going to be a race there tonight. We saw the KP60 and old leving going up followed by that MR2, then the Levin returned in a hurry." Kenta said.

"And then these two daredevils barreled down the road like there would be no tomorrow. If you watch further, you'll see that the MR2 crashed." Fumihiro continued, as Ryosuke watched the rest of the footage.

"Interesting.. This KP60 is more impressive than I thought. It's much more firm on the corners than Fujiwara's 86.." Ryosuke frowned slightly. "It'll be truly challenging opponent. Tomorrow we'll start working our way through local teams.

Kenta was overjoyed. "Yay! Again I'll get to witness how Keisuke whoops everyones ass on uphill!"

Keisuke sighed, holding his head. "Bit louder, please? There's someone in the next prefecture who didn't hear your cheerful voice, Kenta.."

Fumihiro and Ryosuke laughed softly at poor Keisuke. "Who told you to drink so much?"

Keisuke just shot a nasty glare at them.

**To be continued..**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Calm before the storm**

The following day went by as Ryuu, Akira and Kohaku prepared Ifrit for the first run after the upgrades. They checked, re-checked and cross-checked everything just to guarantee that nothing would go wrong mechanically.

This "bug-eyed" KP60 Starlet was now something much more than the humble 1300cc shopping cart it originally were. Gone was the asthmatic 8-valve unit, replaced with highly modified twin turbo-charged Mazda 20B, that now delivered 1300bhp when boost scramble was enabled.

This tiny hatchback were no longer tail-happy RWD, but a grippy AWD, that had drivetrain parts from Pulsar Gti-R and sophisticated electronics from wrecked R34 GT-R Nur. Standard 5-speed gearbox had been replaced too, with pneumatically operated 7-ratio racing box.

Most of chassis panels and doors were made of carbon fiber, and not-so-subtle aerodynamic parts spoke of massive speed and grip. Interior had been stripped and roll cage had been installed, accompanied with many other racing spec parts. Red-to black flip-paint made it look like it would be dripping blood, or resemble scaly armor of a fierce red dragon.

After finishing their inspections, Ryuu and Akira pushed the car out and washed it. As a final touch, Ryuu waxed it properly, and after that they just stood still and looked the car for a while.

"It looks scary.. Like it would be doing 200mph right now, even though it's just sitting there." Akira said, shivering a bit.

"Well, that isn't too far from the truth. Ah, right, maybe we should check the ECU too. I'll start the car and let it warm up while you get the laptop ready." Akira nodded and walked in the house as Ryuu started the engine. Race-bred wankel-engine shrieked and hissed, blow off valves spitting angrily and shot respectable amount of fire from it's twin exhausts. Ryuu grinned widely and blipped the throttle few times, and faster than ever, bunch of curious kids appeared out of nowhere, looking at the car in total awe.

"Wow, that's so cool! It looks like it could fly..! And those flames! I bet that the cars behind it catch fire if they're too close!" said one of the kids, and rest agreed, and they started to chat about the car, pointing at this or that detail and guessing what meaning it had. Ryuu chuckled and floored the throttle, letting the revs rise all the way to the limiter before letting go.

The resulting blow-off valve hiss and chatter, not to mention the racket and crackling from the flaming exhausts got the kids back out a little, protecting their ears. They laughed and talked even more enthusiastically. Ryuu got out of the car, leaving the engine rumble it's rough idle.

Kids ran to him, and started to ask questions as usual. Ryuu did his best to answer to them, and they didn't doubt him at all when he said that it was able to beat supercars and even hypercars. But, as kids usually do, they got bored and ran away, leaving Ryuu alone.

He took few photos of the car for Kohaku. He had promised a review for WTCR-magazine later this week, and he wanted the car to be as good looking as it simply could.

Daichi looked at the two young men in front of him, nodding slowly. "Yes, I can be your first opponent at this area. I've heard a lot of your team, and I'd love to see what you can really do." Ryosuke Takahashi smiled slightly, looking at his car. "R32 GT-R.. That is a respectable opponent, despite being almost 20 years old."

Daichi grinned. "This old lady can be a really fierce beast when poked with a stick. She also has few surprises under the hood." He said, petting the carbon fiber hood. "What do you think? Is my outdated Playstation-car able to go head to head with that flashy FD of yours?"

Keisuke frowned slightly. He had already learned that even around here, old cars shouldn't be underestimated. "I've beaten GT-R's before, uphill and downhill. My twin turbo rotary didn't lose back then, and it won't fail me this time either."

Daichi smiled and nodded, shaking hands with the brothers. "It's a deal then. Friday night, I'll be here waiting for you guys."

Later, back at the hotel

"Brother.. when I saw that R32 leaving, I noticed something disturbing in the rear end of that car." Ryosuke looked up from his laptop, raising an eyebrow as he glanced at Keisuke.

"That R32 had V-Spec II Nür-badge. As far as I know, that badge is reserved for R34's, right?" Ryosuke nodded, frowning slightly. "That is true. It could be mere decoration, but there's also a chance that the badge tells the truth. The R34 Nür is considered as the best production GT-R, as it shares some engine components with the endurance racer that was used in the Nürburgring 24 hour races. If the driver of this R32 has been able to find a wrecked R34 Nür, he might have been able to salvage some components, or possibly the engine and whole drivetrain and install it into his R32. Such modification would improve R32's handling remarkably."

Keisuke shook his head. "His car is also way lighter than R34. I'd dare to guess that it's around the same as my FD, bit over 1000kg. He will be interesting opponent to me." Keisuke looked at Takumi, who was again watching BMI videos, where some green-suited racer passed R34 with his TRD Trueno. Keisuke walked to him, looking at the screen. "Keiichi Tschuchiya? I thought that he had retired from that stuff already. Old geezers like that should drive automatic fwd vans or something."

Takumi sighed, remembering certain old geezer who was quite much similar to Drift King. "Well, just hope that you'll never have a race with my father. That old geezer is so fast that it's disgusting." Keisuke looked at the downhill ace of Project D. "What do you mean?"

Takumi hesitated a bit, before he replied. "Remember God Foot and God Arm? He's like those two, but molded together in one body, and way faster. That shitty old man passed me on Akina with ease even when I pulled off my best tricks to shake him off."

Ryosuke raised his head a bit. "What kind of car he drives?" Takumi scratched his head. "Umm.. I think it was Subaru WRX.. Flashy 2-door coupe with big wing. I've driven it too, and it feels like flying saucer, and after that.. I've felt that my Trueno is inferior and outdated. It disturbed me quite a while before I got over with it."

Ryosuke nodded, returning to his simulations. "Don't worry. You both should be able to beat this R32 with ease, if everything goes according the plans." Takumi nodded, concentrating on the video again.

Keisuke shivered as he thought of Takumi's father. "_He's like those two, but molded together in one body, and way faster.. And it seems that you have inherited that kind of speed too._" New kind of determination made Keisuke grit his teeths as he realized how great opponent Takumi was.

Familiar white NSX screeched to a halt, barely missing the sleek S2000's rear bumper. Akane got out of her car and dashed into the house, scaring the hell out of her sisters. "T-They're here! P-Project D's vans, FD, hachiroku and even the FC!" She managed to splutter out, before Emi and Hotaru bursted into excited screams of joy.

"Ryosuke-sama and Keisuke -sama are _here_, just for us to catch?! Kyaa! This is so cool!" Akane smiled to her younger siblings. "I wish I could join that hunt, I already have a certain rising star in my sights." That remark led instantly into friendly teasing between the younger siblings and Akane.

That night, unusual sight could be seen at the mountain pass. Bright green AMC Gremlin was tearing up and down the roads, putting up pretty impressive times. Exiting the corners was usually done with massive wheelspin that was accompanied by a deep, throaty growl of V8. Short, fat man behind the wheel grinned. "Bring it on, you pesky KP60! I'll show you that V8's are the true masters of Touge and Wangan!" He floored the throttle and kickdown caused the wheels to spin even on the straights.

"That fatty is crazy. He thinks that V8 and automatic gearbox are the choice for Touge..?" Mysterious person muttered as he followed the old subcompact musclecar. He was sitting in old car as well. His car was blue, and very beautifully flowing lines revealed it to be European origin. He fired up the engine, and smooth burble of well-tuned V6 filled the air. He flicked his cigarette out of the window and took off at immense speed that was provided only by rear-engined cars. "We shall see.. This "Dragon" has beaten 4WD's, RWD's and MR's this far.. But we shall see if he will be match to my European RR!"

Later that night, on deserted highway..

Pair of bright xenon-headlights split the darkness ahead. The vehicle seemed to have considerable amount of speed, way above the limits of the highway and it was still accelerating. Deep throaty roar of twin turbo-V8 filled the air as the revs climbed up to the rev limiter before unnaturally quick up shifting.

Katashi kept his eye on the gauges and engineer next to him was adjusting the ECU's parameters with his laptop. This car was slowly but certainly getting ready for production. Worst problems of the engine and suspension had been smoothed out, and only some minor rough edges needed some work.

Katashi stepped on the throttle again, but instead of immense acceleration car bogged down and began to lose speed. Katashi looked at the engineer who was working furiously on the laptop, trying to find out what was wrong. "It's not in the electronics.. Hey, there's plenty of smoke behind us." Katashi looked and cursed heavily. Car was barely moving anymore as he pulled to the side of the road, putting his emergency lights on.

"Call the team and tell them to send a tow truck. I'll check the engine while we're waiting." Katashi said, opening the hood locking mechanism and stepped out from the crippled prototype. He lifted the hood and protected himself from the thick cloud of smoke.

"It's definitely burnt oil.. Yeah, that's yet another pair of turbos this week. Tell the designer team that they need to get back on their drawing boards. If they can't make the lubrication and cooling system sufficient after demanding that the turbos have to be single piece with the exhaust manifolds, we'll go back to the traditional system until they have solved these issues."

The engineer looked at the destruction in the engine bay. "They're not going to be happy about this." Katashi smirked. "Well, they demanded trying this kind of layout in order to see if they could cut down the costs, and this is what you get.. Plenty of destroyed engines while solving the problem."

Katashi took a cigarette and sighed. He was thinking about his kids, and that new rising star that was quickly becoming the fastest thing on both of the popular scenes, Touge and Wangan.

"_Ryuu Masaru.. I wonder when we will have a match against each other. I don't wonder if you've improved that Starlet of yours drastically while I've been gone, but I still believe that I can match it's performance with Kuro-Ken.." _

Old mans thoughts were interrupted as he heard a sound that was so familiar.. Yet something was different. He did recognize the sound of highly tuned 20B twinturbo, but something had changed. It sounded angrier, louder, sharper and utterly more powerful.

Katashi held his breath as the sound grew louder and louder. He could already hear the turbochargers and blow-off valves, and extremely quick shifts of the racing gearbox. The car came to the straight in a blink of an eye, blinding Katashi and the mechanic with it's headlights, that were covered by aerodynamically shaped plexiglass. As soon as it appeared, it passed the stationary prototype, and the hellish shriek of the rotary turned into meaty, slightly buzzing burble that got weaker rapidly. The car had definitely turned into blood-thirsty monster.

Katashi listened as highly modified KP60 disappeared into the night. He tossed his cigarette away silently, biting his lip. He knew his time was running out.


End file.
